UC-NRLF 


B    M    m3    33M 


1 


BERKELEY 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of 
CALIFO"-" 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

i>1r,   and  Mrs. 
John  J.  Nathan 


THE    STUDY    OF    WORDS 


BY 


RICHARD   CHENEVIX  TRENCH 


NEW    YORK 

HOWARD    WILFORD    BELL 

1904 


CorYRIGHT    1904 

BY   Howard   Wiliord   Bell 


The  Trow   Press   New   York 


fPIFT 


THE     STUDY     OF    WORDS 


Introductory  Lecture 

There  are  few  who  would  not  readily  acknowledge  that 
mainly  in  worthy  books  are  preserved  and  hoarded  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  which  the  world  has 
accumulated;  and  that  chiefly  by  aid  of  books  they  are 
handed  down  from  one  generation  to  another.  I  shall 
urge  on  you  in  these  lectures  something  different  from  this ; 
namely,  that  not  in  books  only,  which  all  acknowledge,  nor 
yet  in  connected  oral  discourse,  but  often  also  in  words  con- 
templated singly,  there  are  boundless  stores  of  moral  and 
historic  truth,  and  no  less  of  passion  and  imagination,  laid 
up — ^that  from  these,  lessons  of  infinite  worth  may  be 
derived,  if  only  our  attention  is  roused  to  their  existence. 
I  shall  urge  on  you  how  well  it  will  repay  you  to  study  the 
words  which  you  are  in  the  habit  of  using  or  of  meeting,  be 
they  such  as  relate  to  highest  spiritual  things,  or  our  common 
words  of  the  shop  and  the  market,  and  of  all  the  familiar 
intercourse  of  daily  life.  It  will  indeed  repay  you  far 
better  than  you  can  easily  believe.  I  am  sure,  at  least,  that 
for  many  a  young  man  his  first  discovery  of  the  fact  that 
words  are  living  powers,  are  the  vesture,  yea,  even  the 
body,  which  thoughts  weave  for  themselves,  has  been  like 
the  dropping  of  scales  from  his  eyes,  like  the  acquiring  of 
another  sense,  or  the  introduction  into  a  new  world;  he  is 
never  able  to  cease  wondering  at  the  moral  marvels  that 
surround  him  on  every  side,  and  ever  reveal  themselves 
more  and  more  to  his   gaze. 

We  indeed  hear  it  not  seldom  said  that  ignorance  is  the 

5 

460 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

mother  of  admiration.  No  falser  word  was  ever  spoken, 
and  hardly  a  more  mischievous  one;  implying,  as  it  does, 
that  this  healthiest  exercise  of  the  mind  rests,  for  the  most 
part,  on  a  deceit  and  a  delusion,  and  that  with  larger  knowl- 
edge it  would  cease ;  while,  in  truth,  for  once  that  ignorance 
leads  us  to  admire  that  which  with  fuller  insight  we  should 
perceive  to  be  a  common  thing,  one  demanding  no  such 
tribute  from  us,  a  hundred,  nay,  a  thousand  times,  it  pre- 
vents us  from  admiring  that  which  is  admirable  indeed. 
And  this  is  so,  whether  we  are  moving  in  the  region  of 
nature,  which  is  the  region  of  God's  wonders,  or  in  the 
region  of  art,  which  is  the  region  of  man's  wonders;  and 
nowhere  truer  than  in  this  sphere  and  region  of  language, 
which  is  about  to  claim  us  now.  Oftentimes  here  we  walk 
up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  intellectual  and  moral  marvels 
with  a  vacant  eye  and  a  careless  mind ;  even  as  some  travel- 
ler passes  unmoved  over  fields  of  fame,  or  through  cities 
of  ancient  renown — unmoved,  because  utterly  unconscious 
of  the  lofty  deeds  which  there  have  been  wrought,  of  the 
great  hearts  which  spent  themselves  there.  We,  like  him, 
wanting  the  knowledge  and  insight  which  would  have  served 
to  kindle  admiration  in  us,  are  oftentimes  deprived  of  this 
pure  and  elevating  excitement  of  the  mind,  and  miss  no 
less  that  manifold  instruction  which  ever  lies  about  our  path, 
and  nowhere  more  largely  than  in  our  daily  words,  if  only 
we  knew  how  to  put  forth  our  hands  and  make  it  our  own. 
'  What  riches,'  one  exclaims,  *  lie  hidden  in  the  vulgar  tongue 
of  our  poorest  and  most  ignorant.  What  flowers  of  para- 
dise lie  under  our  feet,  with  their  beauties  and  their  parts 
undistinguished  and  undiscerned,  from  having  been  daily 
trodden  on.' 

And  this  subject  upon  which  we  are  thus  entering  ought 
not  to  be  a  dull  or  uninteresting  one  in  the  handling,  or  one 
to  which  only  by  an  effort  you  will  yield  the  attention  which 

6 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

I  shall  claim.  If  it  shall  prove  so,  this  I  fear  must  be 
through  the  fault  of  my  manner  of  treating  it ;  for  certainly 
in  itself  there  is  no  study  which  may  be  made  at  once  more 
instructive  and  entertaining  than  the  study  of  the  use  and 
abuse,  the  origin  and  distinction  of  words,  with  an  investiga- 
tion, slight  though  it  may  be,  of  the  treasures  contained 
in  them;  which  is  exactly  that  which  I  now  propose  to 
myself  and  to  you.  I  remember  a  very  learned  scholar, 
to  whom  we  owe  one  of  our  best  Greek  lexicons,  a  book 
which  must  have  cost  him  years,  speaking  in  the  preface 
of  his  completed  work  with  a  just  disdain  of  some,  who 
complained  of  the  irksome  drudgery  of  such  toils  as  those 
which  had  engaged  him  so  long, — toils  irksome,  forsooth, 
because  they  only  had  to  do  with  words.  He  disclaims  any 
part  with  those  who  asked  pity  for  themselves,  as  so  many 
galley-slaves  chained  to  the  oar,  or  martyrs  who  had  offered 
themselves  for  the  good  of  the  literary  world.  He  declares 
that  the  task  of  classing,  sorting,  grouping,  comparing, 
tracing  the  derivation  and  usage  of  words,  had  been  to  him 
no  drudgery,  but  a  delight  and  labour  of  love.^ 

And  if  this  may  be  true  in  regard  of  a  foreign  tongue, 
how  much  truer  ought  it  to  be  in  regard  of  our  own,  of 
our  '  mother  tongue,'  as  we  affectionately  call  it.  A  great 
writer  not  very  long  departed  from  us  has  borne  witness 
at  once  to  the  pleasantness  and  profit  of  this  study.  *  In 
a  language,'  he  says,  '  like  ours,  where  so  many  words  are 
derived  from  other  languages,  there  are  few  modes  of 
instruction  more  useful  or  more  amusing  than  that  of  accus- 
toming young  people  to  seek  for  the  etymology  or  primary 
meaning  of  the  words  they  use.  There  are  cases  in  which 
more  knowledge  of  more  value  may  be  conveyed  by  the  his- 
tory of  a  word  than  by  the  history  of  a  campaign.'  So 
■writes  Coleridge;  and  impressing  the  same  truth,  Emerson 
has  somewhere   characterized  language  as   '  fossil  i3oetry.' 

7 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

He  evidently  means  that  just  as  in  some  fossil^  curious 
and  beautiful  shapes  of  vegetable  or  animal  life,  the  grace- 
ful fern  or  the  finely  vertebrated  lizard,  such  as  now^  it 
may  be,  have  been  extinct  for  thousands  of  years,  are  per- 
manently bound  up  with  the  stone,  and  rescued  from  that 
perishing  which  would  else  have  been  their  portion, — so  in 
words  are  beautiful  thoughts  and  images,  the  imagination 
and  the  feeling  of  past  ages,  of  men  long  since  in  their 
graves,  of  men  whose  very  names  have  perished,  there  are 
these,  which  might  so  easily  have  perished  too,  preserved 
and  made  safe  for  ever.  The  phrase  is  a  striking  one;  the 
only  fault  one  can  find  with  it  is  that  it  is  too  narrow. 
Language  may  be,  and  indeed  is,  this  '  fossil  poetry  '  ;  but 
it  may  be  affirmed  of  it  with  exactly  the  same  truth  that  it 
is  fossil  ethics,  or  fossil  history.  Words  quite  as  often  and 
as  effectually  embody  facts  of  history,  or  convictions  of 
the  moral  sense,  as  of  the  imagination  or  passion  of  men; 
even  as,  so  far  as  that  moral  sense  may  be  perverted, 
they  will  bear  witness  and  keep  a  record  of  that  perversion. 
On  all  these  points  I  shall  enter  at  full  in  after  lectures; 
but  I  may  give  by  anticipation  a  specimen  or  two  of  what  I 
mean,  to  make  from  the  first  my  purpose  and  plan  more 
fully  intelligible  to  all. 

Language  then  is  '  fossil  poetry  '  ;  in  other  words,  we  are 
not  to  look  for  the  poetry  which  a  people  may  possess  only 
in  its  poems,  or  its  poetical  customs,  traditions,  and  beliefs. 
Many  a  single  word  also  is  itself  a  concentrated  poem, 
having  stores  of  poetical  thought  and  imagery  laid  up  in  it. 
Examine  it,  and  it  will  be  found  to  rest  on  some  deep 
analogy  of  things  natural  and  things  spiritual;  bringing 
those  to  illustrate  and  to  give  an  abiding  form  and  body 
to  these.  The  image  may  have  grown  trite  and  ordinary 
now:  perhaps  through  the  help  of  this  very  word  may  have 
become  so  entirely  the  heritage  of  all,  as  to  seem  little  better 

8 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

than  a  commonplace ;  yet  not  the  less  he  who  first  discerned 
the  relation,  and  devised  the  new  word  which  should 
express  it,  or  gave  to  an  old,  never  before  but  literally 
used,  this  new  and  figurative  sense,  this  man  was  in  his 
degree  a  poet —  a  maker,  that  is,  of  things  which  were  not 
before,  which  would  not  have  existed  but  for  him,  or  for 
some  other  gifted  with  equal  powers.  He  who  spake  first 
of  a  '  dilapidated  '  fortune,  what  an  image  must  have  risen 
up  before  his  mind's  eye  of  some  falling  house  or  palace, 
stone  detaching  itself  from  stone,  till  all  had  gradually 
sunk  into  desolation  and  ruin.  Or  he  who  to  that  Greek 
word  eiXucpivrj^,  which  signified  originally  '  the  winnowed, 
the  unmingled,'  gave  first  its  ethical  signification  of  *  sin- 
cere,' *  truthful,'  or  as  we  might  say,  *  imadulterated,'  can 
we  deny  to  him  the  jooet's  feeling  and  eye  r  Many  a  man  had 
gazed,  we  are  sure,  at  the  jagged  and  indented  mountain 
ridges  of  Spain,  before  one  called  them  '  sierras  '  or  '  saws,' 
the  name  by  which  now  they  are  known,  as  Sierra  Morena, 
Sierra  Nevada ;  but  that  man  coined  his  imagination  into 
a  word  which  will  endure  as  long  as  the  everlasting  hills 
which  he  named. 

But  it  was  said  just  now  that  words  often  contain  a  wit- 
ness for  great  moral  truths — God  having  pressed  such  a 
seal  of  truth  upon  language,  that  men  are  continually  utter- 
ing deeper  things  than  they  know,  asserting  mighty  princi- 
ples, it  may  be  asserting  them  against  themselves,  in  words 
that  to  them  may  seem  nothing  more  than  the  current  coin 
of  society.  Thus  to  what  grand  moral  purposes  Bishop 
Butler  turns  the  word  '  pastime  '  ;  how  solemn  the  testimony 
which  he  compels  the  world,  out  of  its  own  use  of  this 
word,  to  render  against  itself — obliging  it  to  own  that  its 
amusements  and  pleasures  do  not  really  satisfy  the  mind 
and  fill  it  with  the  sense  of  an  abiding  and  satisfying  joy:  - 
they   are   only   '  pastime  '  ;   they   serve   only,   as   this   word 

9 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

confesses,  to  pass  away  the  time,  to  prevent  it  from  hang- 
ing, an  intolerable  burden,  on  men's  hands:  all  which  they 
can  do  at  the  best  is  to  prevent  men  from  discovering  and 
attending  to  their  own  internal  poverty  and  dissatisfaction 
and  want.  He  might  have  added  that  there  is  the  same 
acknowledgment  in  the  word  '  diversion,'  wliich  means  no 
more  than  that  which  diverts  or  turns  us  aside  from  our- 
selves, and  in  this  way  helps  us  to  forget  ourselves  for 
a  little.  And  thus  it  would  appear  that,  even  according 
to  the  world's  own  confession,  all  which  it  proposes  is — 
not  to  make  us  happy,  but  a  little  to  prevent  us  from  remem- 
bering that  we  are  unhappy,  to  pass  away  our  time,  to  divert 
us  fronij  ourselves.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  we  declare 
that  the  good  which  will  really  fill  our  souls  and  satisfy 
them  to  the  uttermost,  is  not  in  us,  but  without  us  and  above 
us,  in  the  words  which  we  use  to  set  forth  any  transcending 
delight.  Take  three  or  four  of  these  words — '  transport,' 
'  rapture,'  '  ravishment,'  '  ecstasy,' — '  transport,'  that  which 
carries  us,  as  *  rapture,'  or  *  ravishment,'  that  which  snatches 
us  out  of  and  above  ourselves ;  and  '  ecstasy  '  is  very  nearly 
the  same,  only  drawn  from  the  Greek. 

And  not  less,  where  a  perversion  of  the  moral  sense  has 
found  place,  words  preserve  oftentimes  a  record  of  this  per- 
version. We  have  a  signal  example  of  this  in  the  use,  or 
rather  misuse,  of  the  words  '  religion  '  and  '  religious  '  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages,  and  indeed  in  many  parts  of  Christen- 
dom still.  A  '  religious  '  person  did  not  then  mean  any  one 
who  felt  and  owned  the  bonds  that  bound  him  to  God  and 
to  his  fellow-men,  but  one  who  had  taken  peculiar  vows  upon 
him,  the  member  of  a  monastic  Order,  of  a  '  religion  '  as 
it  was  called.  As  little  did  a  '  religious  '  house  then  mean, 
nor  does  it  now  mean  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  a  Christian 
household,  ordered  in  the  fear  of  God,  but  a  house  in  which 
these  persons  were  gathered' together  according  to  the  rule 

10 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

of  some  man.  What  a  light  does  this  one  word  so  used 
throw  on  the  entire  state  of  mind  and  habits  of  thought  in 
those  ages !  That  then  was  '  religion/  and  alone  deserved 
the  name !  And  '  religious  '  was  a  title  which  might  not  be 
given  to  parents  and  children,  husbands  and  wives,  men 
and  women  fulfilling  faithfully  and  holily  in  the  world  the 
duties  of  their  several  stations,  but  only  to  those  who  had 
devised  a  self-chosen  service  for  themselves.^ 

But  language  is  fossil  history  as  well.  What  a  record  of 
great  social  revolutions,  revolutions  in  nations  and  in  the  feel- 
ings of  nations,  the  one  word  '  frank  '  contains,  which  is  used, 
as  we  all  know,  to  express  aught  that  is  generous,  straight- 
forward, and  free.  The  Franks,  I  need  not  remind  you,  were 
a  powerful  German  tribe,  or  association  of  tribes,  who  gave 
themselves  this  proud  name  of  the  'franks'  or  the  free ;  and 
who,  at  the  breaking  up  of  the  Roman  Empire,  possessed 
themselves  of  Gaul,  to  which  they  gave  their  own  name.  They 
were  the  ruling  conquering  people,  honourably  distinguished 
from  the  Gauls  and  degenerate  Romans  among  whom  they 
established  themselves  by  their  independence,  their  love 
of  freedom,  their  scorn  of  a  lie ;  they  had,  in  short,  the  vir- 
tues which  belong  to  a  conquering  and  dominant  race  in  the 
midst  of  an  inferior  and  conquered  one.  And  thus  it  came 
to  pass  that  by  degrees  the  name  *  frank  '  indicated  not 
merely  a  national,  but  involved  a  moral,  distinction  as  well ; 
and  a  *  frank  '  man  was  synonymous  not  merely  with  a  man 
of  the  conquering  German  race,  but  was  an  epithet  applied 
to  any  man  possessed  of  certain  high  moral  qualities,  which 
for  the  most  part  appertained  to,  and  were  found  only  in, 
men  of  that  stock ;  and  thus  in  men's  daily  discourse,  when 
they  speak  of  a  person  as  being  '  frank,'  or  when  they  use  the 
words  *  franchise,'  *  enfranchisement,'  to  express  civil  liber- 
ties and  immunities,  their  language  here  is  the  outgrowth, 
the  record,  and  the  result  of  great  historic  changes,  bears 

11 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

testimony  to  facts  of  history,  whereof  it  may  well  happen 
that  the  speakers  have  never  heard.*  The  word  *  slave  '  has 
undergone  a  process  entirely  analogous,  although  in  an 
opposite  direction.  *  The  martial  superiority  of  the  Teu- 
tonic races  enabled  them  to  keep  their  slave  markets  sup- 
plied with  captives  taken  from  the  Slavonic  tribes.  Hence, 
in  all  the  languages  of  western  Europe,  the  once  glorious 
name  of  Slave  has  come  to  express  the  most  degraded  con- 
dition of  men.  What  centuries  of  violence  and  warfare 
does  the  history  of  this  word  disclose.'  ^ 

Having  given  by  anticipation  this  handful  of  examples 
in  illustration  of  what  in  these  lectures  I  propose,  I  will, 
before  proceeding  further,  make  a  few  observations  on  a  sub- 
ject, which,  if  we  would  go  at  all  to  the  root  of  the  matter, 
we  can  scarcely  leave  altogether  untouched, — I  mean  the  ori- 
gin of  language,  in  which,  however,  we  will  not  entangle 
ourselves  deeper  than  we  need.  There  are,  or  rather  there 
have  been,  two  theories  about  this.  One,  and  that  which 
rather  has  been  than  now  is,  for  few  maintain  it  still,  would 
put  language  on  the  same  level  with  the  various  arts  and 
inventions  with  which  man  has  gradually  adorned  and 
enriched  his  life.  It  would  make  him  by  degrees  to  have 
invented  it,  just  as  he  might  have  invented  any  of  these, 
for  himself;  and  from  rude  imperfect  beginnings,  the  inar- 
ticulate cries  by  which  he  expressed  his  natural  wants,  the 
sounds  by  which  he  sought  to  imitate  the  impression  of 
natural  objects  upon  him,  little  by  little  to  have  arrived  at 
that  wondrous  organ  of  thought  and  feeling,  which  his 
language  is  often  to  him  now. 

It  might,  I  think,  be  sufficient  to  object  to  this  explana- 
tion, that  language  would  then  be  an  accident  of  human 
nature;  and,  this  being  the  case,  that  we  certainly 
should  somewhere  encounter  tribes  sunken  so  low  as 
not    to    possess    it;    even    as    there    is    almost    no    human 

12 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

art  or  invention  so  obvious,  and  as  it  seems  to  us  so  indis- 
pensable, but  there  are  those  who  have  fallen  below  its 
knowledge  and  its  exercise.  But  with  language  it  is  not  so. 
There  have  never  yet  been  found  human  beings,  not  the  most 
degraded  horde  of  South  African  bushmen,  or  Papuan  can- 
nibals, who  did  not  employ  this  means  of  intercourse  with 
one  another.  But  the  more  decisive  objection  to  this  view 
of  the  matter  is,  that  it  hangs  together  with,  and  is  indeed 
an  essential  part  of,  that  theory  of  society,  which  is  contra- 
dicted alike  by  every  page  of  Genesis,  and  every  notice  of 
our  actual  experience — ^the  *  urang-utang '  theory,  as  it  has 
been  so  happily  termed — that,  I  mean,  according  to  which  the 
primitive  condition  of  man  was  the  savage  one,  and  the  sav- 
age himself  the  seed  out  of  which  in  due  time  the  civilized 
man  was  unfolded;  whereas,  in  fact,  so  far  from  being 
this  living  seed,  he  might  more  justly  be  considered  as  a 
dead  withered  leaf,  torn  violently  away  from  the  great  trunk 
of  humanity,  and  with  no  more  power  to  produce  anything 
nobler  than  himself  out  of  himself,  than  that  dead 
withered  leaf  to  unfold  itself  into  the  oak  of  the  forest. 
So  far  from  being  the  child  with  the  latent  capabilities  of 
manhood,  he  is  himself  rather  the  man  prematurely  aged, 
and  decrepit,  and  outworn. 

But  the  truer  answer  to  the  inquiry  how  language  arose, 
is  this:  God  gave  man  language,  just  as  He  gave  him 
reason,  and  just  because  He  gave  him  reason;  for  what  is 
man's  word  but  his  reason,  coming  forth  that  it  may  behold 
itself  .^  They  are  indeed  so  essentially  one  and  the  same  that 
the  Greek  language  has  one  word  for  them  both.  He  gave 
it  to  him,  because  he  could  not  be  man,  that  is,  a  social 
being,  without  it.  Yet  this  must  not  be  taken  to  affirm  that 
man  started  at  the  first  furnished  with  a  full-formed  vocab- 
ulary of  words,  and  as  it  were  with  his  first  dictionary  and 
first  grammar  ready-made  to  his  hands.     He  did  not  thus 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

begin  the  world  with  names,  but  with  the  power  of  naming: 
for  man  is  not  a  mere  speaking  machine ;  God  did  not  teach 
him  words,  as  one  of  us  teaches  a  parrot,  from  without; 
but  gave  him  a  capacity,  and  then  evoked  the  capacity  which 
He  gave.  Here,  as  in  everything  else  that  concerns  the 
primitive  constitution,  the  great  original  institutes,  of  hu- 
manity, our  best  and  truest  lights  are  to  be  gotten  from  the 
study  of  the  first  three  chapters  of  Genesis;  and  you  will 
observe  that  there  it  is  not  God  who  imposed  the  first  names 
on  the  creatures,  but  Adam — Adam,  however,  at  the  direct 
suggestion  of  his  Creator.  He  brought  them  all,  we  are 
told,  to  Adam,  '  to  see  what  he  would  call  them ;  and  what- 
soever Adam  called  every  living  creature,  that  was  the  name 
thereof'  (Gen.  2:  19).  Here  we  have  the  clearest  intima- 
tion of  the  origin,  at  once  divine  and  human,  of  speech; 
while  yet  neither  is  so  brought  forward  as  to  exclude  or 
obscure  the  other. 

And  so  far  we  may  concede  a  limited  amount  of  right 
to  those  who  have  held  a  progressive  acquisition,  on  man's 
part,  of  the  power  of  embodying  thought  in  words.  I  believe 
that  we  should  conceive  the  actual  case  most  truly,  if  we 
conceived  this  power  of  naming  things  and  expressing  their 
relations^  as  one  laid  up  in  the  depths  of  man's  being,  one 
of  the  divine  capabilities  with  which  he  was  created:  but 
one  (and  in  this  differing  from  those  which  have  produced 
in  various  people  various  arts  of  life)  which  could  not 
remain  dormant  in  him,  for  man  could  be  only  man  through 
its  exercise;  which  therefore  did  rapidly  bud  and  blossom 
out  from  within  him  at  every  solicitation  from  the  world 
without  and  from  his  fellow-man;  as  each  object  to  be 
named  appeared  before  his  eyes,  each  relation  of  things 
to  one  another  arose  before  his  mind.  It  was  not  merely 
the  possible,  but  the  necessary,  emanation  of  the  spirit  with 
which  he  had  been  endowed.    Man  makes  his  own  language, 

14 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

but  he  makes  it  as  the  bee  makes  its  cells,  as  the  bird  its 
nest;  he  cannot  do  otherwise.^ 

How  this  latent  power  evolved  itself  first,  how  this  spon- 
taneous generation  of  language  came  to  pass,  is  a  mystery; 
even  as  every  act  of  creation  is  of  necessity  such;  and  as  a 
mystery  all  the  deepest  inquirers  into  the  subject  are  eon- 
tent  to  leave  it.  Yet  we  may  perhaps  a  little  help  ourselves 
to  the  realizing  of  what  the  process  was,  and  what  it  was 
not,  if  we  liken  it  to  the  growth  of  a  tree  springing  out  of, 
and  unfolding  itself  from,  a  root,  and  according  to  a  neces- 
sary law — that  root  being  the  divine  capacity  of  language 
with  which  man  was  created,  that  law  being  the  law  of 
highest  reason  with  which  he  was  endowed:  if  we  liken  it 
to  this  rather  than  to  the  rearing  of  a  house,  which  a  man 
should  slowly  and  painfully  fashion  for  himself  with  dead 
timbers  combined  after  his  own  fancy  and  caprice;  and 
which  little  by  little  improved  in  shape,  material,  and  size, 
being  first  but  a  log  house,  answering  his  barest  needs, 
and  only  after  centuries  of  toil  and  pain  growing  for  his 
sons'  sons  into  a  stately  palace  for  pleasure  and  delight. 

Were  it  otherwise,  were  the  savage  the  primitive  man, 
we  should  then  find  savage  tribes,  furnished  scantily  enough, 
it  might  be,  with  the  elements  of  speech,  yet  at  the  same  time 
with  its  fruitful  beginnings,  its  vigorous  and  healthful 
germs.  But  what  does  their  language  on  close  inspection 
prove?  In  every  case  what  they  are  themselves,  the  rem- 
nant and  ruin  of  a  better  and  a  nobler  past.  Fearful  indeed 
is  the  impress  of  degradation  which  is  stamped  on  the 
language  of  the  savage,  more  fearful  perhaps  even  than 
that  which  is  stamped  upon  his  form.  When  wholly  letting 
go  the  truth,  when  long  and  greatly  sinning  against  light 
and  conscience,  a  people  has  thus  gone  the  downward  way, 
has  been  scattered  off  by  some  violent  catastrophe  from 
those  regions  of  the  world  which  are  the  seats  of  advance 

•15 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

and  j)rogrt'ss,  and  driven  to  its  remote  isles  and  further 
corners,  tlien  as  one  nobler  thought,  one  spiritual  idea  after 
another  has  perished  from  it,  the  words  also  that  expressed 
these  have  perished  too.  As  one  habit  of  civilization  has 
been  let  go  after  another,  the  words  which  those  habits  de- 
manded have  droj)ped  as  well,  first  out  of  use,  and  then  out 
of  memory,  and  thus  after  a  while  have  been  wholly  lost. 

Moffat,  in  his  Missionary  Labours  and  Scenes  in  South 
Africa,  gives  us  a  very  remarkable  example  of  the  disappear- 
ing of  one  of  the  most  significant  words  from  the  language 
of  a  tribe  sinking  ever  deeper  in  savagery;  and  with  the 
disappearing  of  the  word,  of  course,  the  disappearing  as 
well  of  the  great  spiritual  fact  and  truth  whereof  that  word 
was  at  once  the  vehicle  and  the  guardian.  The  Bechuanas, 
a  Caffre  tribe,  employed  formerly  the  word  '  Morimo,' 
to  designate  *  Him  that  is  above,'  or  '  Him  that  is  in  heaven,' 
and  attached  to  the  word  the  notion  of  a  supreme  Divine 
Being.  This  word,  with  the  spiritual  idea  corresponding  to 
it,  Moffat  found  to  have  vanished  from  the  language  of 
the  present  generation,  although  here  and  there  he  could 
m(eet  with  an  old  man,  scarcely  one  or  two  in  a  thousand, 
who  remembered  in  his  youth  to  have  heard  speak  of 
*  Morimo  '  ;  and  this  word,  once  so  deeply  significant,  only 
survived  now  in  the  spells  and  charms  of  the  so-called  rain- 
makers and  sorcerers,  who  misused  it  to  designate  a  fabu- 
lous ghost,  of  whom  they  told  the  absurdest  and  most  contra- 
dictory things. 

And  as  there  is  no  such  witness  to  the  degradation  of  the 
savage  as  the  brutal  poverty  of  his  language,  so  is  there 
nothing  that  so  effectually  tends  to  keep  him  in  the  depths 
to  which  he  has  fallen.  You  cannot  impart  to  any  man  more 
than  the  words  which  lie  understands  either  now  contain, 
or  can  be  made,  intelligibly  to  him,  to  contain.  Language 
is  as  truly  on  one  side  the  limit  and  restraint  of  thought, 

16 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

as  on  the  other  side  that  which  feeds  and  unfolds  thought. 
Thus  it  is  the  ever-repeated  complaint  of  the  missionary  that 
the  very  terms  are  well-nigh  or  wholly  wanting  in  the  dia- 
lect of  the  savage  whereby  to  impart  to  him  heavenly  truths ; 
and  not  these  only ;  but  that  there  are  equally  wanting  those 
which  should  express  the  nobler  emotions  of  the  human  heart, 
DobrizhofFer^  the  Jesuit  missionary,  in  his  curious  History 
of  the  Abipones,  tells  us  that  neither  these  nor  the  Guari- 
nies,  two  of  the  principal  native  tribes  of  Brazil,  possessed 
any  word  in  the  least  corresponding  to  our  '  thanks.*  But 
what  wonder,  if  the  feeling  of  gratitude  was  entirely  absent 
from  their  hearts,  that  they  should  not  have  possessed 
the  corresponding  word  in  their  vocabularies?  Nay,  how 
should  they  have  had  it  there  .^  And  that  in  this  absence 
lies  the  true  explanation  is  plain  from  a  fact  which  the  same 
writer  records,  that,  although  inveterate  askers,  they  never 
showed  the  slightest  sense  of  obligation  or  of  gratitude 
when  they  obtained  what  they  sought;  never  saying  more 
than,  '  This  will  be  useful  to  me,'  or,  *  This  is  what  I 
wanted.'  Dr.  Krapf,  after  laborious  researches  in  some 
widely  extended  dialects  of  East  Africa,  has  remarked  in 
them  the  same  absence  of  any  words  expressing  the  idea  of 
gratitude. 

Nor  is  it  only  in  what  they  have  forfeited  and  lost,  but 
also  in  what  they  have  retained  or  invented,  that  these  lan- 
guages proclaim  their  degradation  and  debasement,  and 
how  deeply  they  and  those  that  speak  them  have  fallen. 
For  indeed  the  strange  wealth  and  the  strange  poverty, 
I  know  not  which  the  stranger  and  the  sadder,  of  the  lan- 
guages of  savage  tribes,  rich  in  words  which  proclaim  their 
shame,  poor  in  those  which  should  attest  the  workings  of 
any  nobler  life  among  them,  not  seldom  absolutely  destitute 
of  these  last,  are  a  mournful  and  ever-recurring  surprise, 
even  to  those  who  were  more  or  less  prepared  to   expect 

17 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

nothing  else.  Thus  I  have  read  of  a  tribe  in  New  Holland, 
which  has  no  word  to  signify  God,  but  has  one  to  designate 
a  process  by  which  an  unborn  child  may  be  destroyed  in 
the  bosom  of  its  mother.^  And  I  have  been  informed,  on 
the  authority  of  one  excellently  capable  of  knowing,  an 
English  scholar  long  resident  in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  that 
in  the  native  language  of  that  island  there  are  four  words 
to  express  the  taking  of  human  life — one  to  express  a 
father's  killing  of  a  son,  another  a  son's  killing  of  a  father, 
with  other  varieties  of  murder;  and  that  in  no  one  of  these 
lies  the  slightest  moral  reprobation,  or  sense  of  the  deep- 
lying  distinction  between  to  *  kill '  and  to  '  murder  '  ;  while 
at  the  same  time,  of  that  language  so  richly  and  so  fearfully 
provided  with  expressions  for  this  extreme  utterance  of 
hate,  he  also  reports  that  a  word  for  *  love  '  is  wanting  in 
it  altogether.  Yet  with  all  this,  ever  and  anon  in  the  midst 
of  this  wreck  and  ruin,  there  is  that  in  the  language  of  the 
savage,  some  subtle  distinction,  some  curious  allusion  to  a 
perished  civilization,  now  utterly  unintelligible  to  the 
speaker;  or  some  other  note,  which  proclaims  his  language 
to  be  the  remains  of  a  dissipated  inheritance,  the  rags  and 
remnants  of  a  robe  which  was  a  royal  one  once.  The  frag- 
ments of  a  broken  sceptre  are  in  his  hand,  a  sceptre  where- 
with once  he  held  dominion  (he,  that  is,  in  his  progenitors) 
over  large  kingdoms  of  thought,  which  now  have  escaped 
wholly  from  his  sway.® 

But  while  it  is  thus  with  him,  while  this  is  the  downward 
course  of  all  those  that  have  chosen  the  downward  path, 
while  with  every  impoverishing  and  debasing  of  personal 
and  national  life  there  goes  hand  in  hand  a  corresponding 
impoverishment  and  debasement  of  language;  so  on  the 
contrary,  where  there  is  advance  and  progress,  where  a 
divine  idea  is  in  any  measure  realizing  itself  in  a  people, 
where  they  are  learning  more  accurately  to  define  and  dis- 

18 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

tinguish,  more  truly  to  know,  where  they  are  ruling,  as  men 
ought  to  rule,  over  nature,  and  compelling  her  to  give  up 
her  secrets  to  them,  where  new  thoughts  are  rising  up  over 
the  horizon  of  a  nation's  mind,  new  feelings  stirring  at  a 
nation's  heart,  new  facts  coming  within  the  sphere  of  its 
knowledge,  there  will  language  be  growing  and  advancing 
too.  It  cannot  lag  behind;  for  man  feels  that  nothing  is 
properly  his  own,  that  he  has  not  secured  any  new  thought, 
or  entered  upon  any  new  spiritual  inheritance,  till  he  has 
fixed  it  in  language,  till  he  can  contemplate  it,  not  as  him- 
self, but  as  his  word;  he  is  conscious  that  he  must  express 
truth,  if  he  is  to  preserve  it,  and  still  more  if  he  would 
propagate  it  among  others.  '  Names,'  as  it  has  been  excel- 
lently said,  '  are  impressions  of  sense,  and  as  such  take  the 
strongest  hold  upon  the  mind,  and  of  all  other  impressions 
can  be  most  easily  recalled  and  retained  in  view.  They 
therefore  serve  to  give  a  point  of  attachment  to  all  the 
more  volatile  objects  of  thought  and  feeling.  Impressions 
that  when  past  might  be  dissipated  for  ever,  are  by  their 
connexion  with  language  always  within  reach.  Thoughts, 
of  themselves,  are  perpetually  slipping  out  of  the  field  of 
immediate  mental  vision;  but  the  name  abides  with  us,  and 
the  utterance  of  it  restores  them  in  a  moment.' 

Men  sometimes  complain  of  the  number  of  new  theolog- 
ical terms  which  the  great  controversies  in  which  the  Church 
from  time  to  time  has  been  engaged,  have  left  behind  them. 
But  this  could  not  have  been  otherwise,  unless  the  gains 
through  those  controversies  made,  were  presently  to  be  lost 
again ;  for  as  has  lately  been  well  said :  '  The  success  and 
enduring  influence  of  any  systematic  construction  of  truth, 
be  it  secular  or  sacred,  depend  as  much  upon  an  exact 
terminology,  as  upon  close  and  deep  thinking  itself. 
Indeed,  unless  the  results  to  which  the  human  mind  arrives 
are  plainly  stated,  and  firmly  fixed  in  an  exact  phraseology, 

19 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

its  thinking  is  to  very  little  purpose  in  the  end.  "  Terms," 
says  Whewell,  "  record  discoveries."  That  which  was  seen, 
it  may  be  with  crystal  clearness,  and  in  bold  outline,  in  the 
consciousness  of  an  individual  thinker,  may  fail  to  become 
the  property  and  possession  of  mankind  at  large,  because  it 
is  not  transferred  from  the  individual  to  the  general  mind, 
by  means  of  a  precise  phraseology  and  a  rigorous  termi- 
nology. Nothing  is  in  its  own  nature  more  fugacious  and 
shifting  than  thought;  and  particularly  thoughts  upon  the 
mysteries  of  Christianity.  A  conception  that  is  plain  and 
accurate  in  the  understanding  of  the  first  man  becomes 
obscure  and  false  in  that  of  the  second,  because  it  was  not 
grasped  and  firmly  held  in  the  form  and  proportions  with 
which  it  first  came  up,  and  then  handed  over  to  other  minds, 
a  fixed  and  scientific  quantity.'  ^  And  on  the  necessity  of 
names  at  once  for  the  preservation  and  the  propagation  of 
truth  it  has  been  justly  observed:  *  Hardly  any  original 
thoughts  on  mental  or  social  subjects  ever  make  their  way 
among  mankind,  or  assume  their  proper  importance  in  the 
minds  even  of  their  inventors,  until  aptly  selected  words 
or  phrases  have  as  it  were  nailed  them  down  and  held  them 
fast.'  ^^  And  this  holds  good  alike  of  the  false  and  of  the 
true.  I  think  we  may  observe  very  often  the  way  in  which 
controversies,  after  long  eddying  backward  and  forward, 
hither  and  thither,  concentrate  themselves  at  last  in  some 
single  word  which  is  felt  to  contain  all  that  the  one  party 
would  affirm  and  the  other  would  deny.  After  a  desultory 
swaying  of  the  battle  hither  and  thither  '  the  high  places 
of  the  field,'  the  critical  position,  on  the  winning  of  which 
everything  turns,  is  discovered  at  last.  Thus  the  whole 
controversy  of  the  Catholic  Church  with  the  Arians  finally 
gathers  itself  up  in  a  single  word,  '  homoousion  ' ;  that  with 
the  Nestorians  in  another,  '  theotokos.'  One  might  be  bold 
to  affirm  that  the  entire  secret  of  Buddhism  is   found  in 

20 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

*  Nirvana  ' ;  for  take  away  the  word,  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  the  keystone  to  the  whole  arch  is  gone.  So  too 
when  the  medieval  Church  allowed  and  then  adopted  the 
word  '  transubstantiation '  (and  we  knew  the  exact  date 
of  this,  see  p.  123),  it  committed  itself  to  a  doctrine  from 
which  henceforward  it  was  impossible  to  recede.  The  float- 
ing error  had  become  a  fixed  one^  and  exercised  a  far 
mightier  influence  on  the  minds  of  all  who  received  it,  than 
except  for  this  it  would  have  ever  done.  It  is  sometimes 
not  a  word,  but  a  phrase,  which  proves  thus  mighty  in  oper- 
ation. *  Reformation  in  the  head  and  in  the  members  '  was 
the  watchword,  for  more  than  a  century  before  an  actual 
Reformation  came,  of  all  who  were  conscious  of  the  deeper 
needs  of  the  Church.  What  intelligent  acquaintance  with 
Darwin's  speculations  would  the  world  in  general  have 
made,  except  for  two  or  three  happy  and  comprehensive 
terms,  as  *  the  survival  of  the  fittest,'  '  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence,' *  the  process  of  natural  selection  ' }  Multitudes  who 
else  would  have  known  nothing  about  Comte's  system,  know 
something  about  it  when  they  know  that  he  called  it  *  the 
positive  philosophy.' 

We  have  been  tempted  to  depart  a  little,  though  a  very 
little,  from  the  subject  immediately  before  us.  What  was 
just  now  said  of  the  manner  in  which  language  enriches 
itself  does  not  contradict  a  prior  assertion,  that  man  starts 
with  language  as  God's  perfect  gift,  which  he  only  impairs 
and  forfeits  by  sloth  and  sin,  according  to  the  same  law 
which  holds  good  in  respect  of  each  other  of  the  gifts  of 
Heaven.  For  it  was  not  meant,  as  indeed  was  then  observed, 
that  men  would  possess  words  to  set  forth  feelings  which 
were  not  yet  stirring  in  them,  combinations  which  they 
had  not  yet  made,  obj  ects  which  they  had  not  yet  seen,  rela- 
tions of  which  they  were  not  yet  conscious ;  but  that  up  to 
man's  needs,  (those  needs  including  not  merely  his  animal 

21 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

wants^  but  all  his  higher  spiritual  cravings,)  he  would  find 
utterance  freely.  The  great  logical,  or  grammatical,  frame- 
work of  language,  (for  grammar  is  the  logic  of  speech, 
even  as  logic  is  the  grammar  of  reason,)  he  would  possess, 
he  knew  not  how;  and  certainly  not  as  the  final  result  of 
gradual  acquisitions,  and  of  reflexion  setting  these  in  order, 
and  drawing  general  rules  from  them;  but  as  that  rather 
which  alone  had  made  those  acquisitions  possible;  as  that 
according  to  which  he  unconsciously  worked,  filled  in  this 
framework  by  degrees  with  these  later  acquisitions  of 
thought,  feeling,  and  experience,  as  one  by  one  they  arrayed 
themselves  in  the  garment  and  vesture  of  words. 

Here  then  is  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  language 
should  be  thus  instructive  for  us,  that  it  should  yield  us  so 
much,  when  we  come  to  analyse  and  probe  it;  and  yield  us 
the  more,  the  more  deeply  and  accurately  we  do  so.  It  is 
full  of  instruction,  because  it  is  the  embodiment,  the  incarna- 
tion, if  I  may  so  speak,  of  the  feelings  and  thoughts  and 
experiences  of  a  nation,  yea,  often  of  many  nations,  and  of 
all  which  through  long  centuries  they  have  attained  to  and 
won.  It  stands  like  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  to  mark  how 
far  the  moral  and  intellectual  conquests  of  mankind  have 
advanced,  only  not  like  those  pillars,  fixed  and  immovable, 
but  ever  itself  advancing  with  the  progress  of  these.  The 
mighty  moral  instincts  which  have  been  working  in  the 
popular  mind  have  found  therein  their  unconscious  voice; 
and  the  single  kinglier  spirits  that  have  looked  deeper 
into  the  heart  of  things  have  oftentimes  gathered  up  all 
they  have  seen  into  some  one  word,  which  they  have  launched 
upon  the  world,  and  with  which  they  have  enriched  it  for 
ever — making  in  that  new  word  a  new  region  of  thought  to  be 
henceforward  in  some  sort  the  common  heritage  of  all. 
Language  is  the  amber  in  which  a  thousand  precious  and 
subtle  thoughts  have  been  safely  embedded  and  preserved. 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTI3RE 

It  has  arrested  ten  thousand  lightning  flashes  of  genius, 
which,  unless  thus  fixed  and  arrested,  might  have  been  as 
bright,  but  would  have  also  been  as  quickly  passing  and 
perishing,  as  the  lightning.  '  Words  convey  the  mental 
treasures  of  one  period  to  the  generations  that  follow;  and 
laden  with  this,  their  precious  freight,  they  sail  safely  across 
gulfs  of  time  in  which  empires  have  suffered  shipwreck,  and 
the  languages  of  common  life  have  sunk  into  oblivion.'  And 
for  all  these  reasons  far  more  and  mightier  in  every  way 
is  a  language  than  any  one  of  the  works  which  may  have 
been  composed  in  it.  For  that  work,  great  as  it  may  be, 
at  best  embodies  what  was  in  the  heart  and  mind  of  a  single 
man,  but  this  of  a  nation.  The  Iliad  is  great,  yet  not  so 
great  in  strength  or  power  or  beauty  as  the  Greek  lan- 
guage.^^  Paradise  Lost  is  a  noble  possession  for  a  people 
to  have  inherited,  but  the  English  tongue  is  a  nobler  heri- 
tage yet.^^ 

And  imperfectly  as  we  may  apprehend  all  this,  there 
is  an  obscure  sense,  or  instinct  I  might  call  it,  in  every 
one  of  us,  of  this  truth.  We  all,  whether  we  have  given 
a  distinct  account  of  the  matter  to  ourselves  or  not,  believe 
that  words  which  we  use  are  not  arbitrary  and  capricious 
signs,  affixed  at  random  to  the  things  which  they  designate, 
for  which  any  other  might  have  been  substituted  as  well, 
but  that  they  stand  in  a  real  relation  to  these.  And  this 
sense  of  the  significance  of  names,  that  they  are,  or  ought 
to  be, — ^that  in  a  world  of  absolute  truth  they  ever  would 
be, — the  expression  of  the  innermost  character  and  qualities 
of  the  things  or  persons  that  bear  them,  speaks  out  in  various 
ways.  It  is  reported  of  Boiardo,  author  of  a  poem  without 
which  we  should  probably  have  never  seen  the  Orlando 
Furioso  of  Ariosto,  that  he  was  out  hunting,  when  the  name 
Rodomonte  presented  itself  to  him  as  exactly  fitting  a 
foremost  person  of  the  epic  he  was   composing;  and  that 

23 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

instantly  returning  home,  he  caused  all  the  joy-bells  of  the 
village  to  be  rung,  to  celebrate  the  happy  invention.  This 
story  may  remind  us  of  another  which  is  told  of  the  greatest 
French  novelist  of  modern  times.  A  friend  of  Balzac's, 
who  has  written  some  Recollections  of  him,  tells  us  that  he 
would  sometimes  wander  for  days  through  the  streets  of 
Paris,  studying  the  names  over  the  shops,  as  being  sure 
that  there  was  a  name  more  appropriate  than  any  other 
to  some  character  which  he  had  conceived,  and  hoping  to 
light  on  it  there. 

You  must  all  have  remarked  the  amusement  and  interest 
which  children  find  in  any  notable  agreement  between  a 
name  and  the  person  who  owns  that  name,  as,  for  instance, 
if  Mr.  Long  is  tall — or,  which  naturally  takes  a  still  stronger 
hold  upon  them,  in  any  manifest  contradiction  between  the 
name  and  the  name-bearer;  if  Mr.  Strongitharm  is  a  weak- 
ling, or  Mr.  Black  an  albino:  the  former  striking  from  a 
sense  of  fitness,  the  latter  from  one  of  incongruity.  Nor  is 
this  a  mere  childish  entertainment.  It  eontinues  with  us 
through  life;  and  that  its  roots  lie  deep  is  attested  by  the 
earnest  use  which  is  often  made,  and  that  at  the  most  earnest 
moments  of  men's  lives,  of  such  agreements  or  disagree- 
ments as  these.  Such  use  is  not  unfrequent  in  Scripture, 
though  it  is  seldom  possible  to  reproduce  it  in  English,  as 
for  instance  in  the  comment  of  Abigail  on  her  husband 
Nabal's  name :  *  As  his  name  is,  so  is  he ;  Nabal  is  his  name, 
and  folly  is  with  him  '  (1  Sam.  25:  25).  And  again,  '  Call 
me  not  Naomi,'  exclaims  the  desolate  widow — '  call  me  not 
Naomi  [or  pleasantness']  ;  call  me  Marah  [or  bitterness], 
for  the  Almighty  hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with  me.'  She 
cannot  endure  that  the  name  she  bears  should  so  strangely 
contradict  the  thing  she  is.  Shakespeare,  in  like  manner, 
reveals  his  own  profound  knowledge  of  the  human  heart, 
when  he  makes  old  John  of  Gaunt,  worn  with  long  sickness, 

24 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

and  now  ready  to  depart,  play  with  his  name,  and  dwell 
upon  the  consent  between  it  and  his  condition ;  so  that  when 
his  royal  nephew  asks  him,  '  How  is  it  with  aged  Gaunt?  ' 
he  answers, 

'  Oh,  how  that  name  befits  my  composition, 
Old  Gaunt  indeed,  and  gaunt  in  being  old — 
Gaunt  am  I  for  the  grave,  gaunt  as  the  grave — ' " 

with  much  more  in  the  same  fashion;  while  it  is  into  the 
mouth  of  the  slight  and  frivolous  king  that  Shakespeare 
puts  the  exclamation  of  wonder, 

'  Can  sick  men  play  so  nicely  with  their  names  ?  '  " 

Mark  too  how,  if  one  is  engaged  in  a  controversy  or 
quarrel,  and  his  name  imports  something  good,  his  adver- 
sary will  lay  hold  of  the  name,  will  seek  to  bring  out  a  real 
contradiction  between  the  name  and  the  bearer  of  the  name, 
so  that  he  shall  appear  as  one  presenting  himself  under  false 
colours,  affecting  a  merit  which  he  does  not  really  possess. 
Examples  of  this  abound.  There  was  one  Vigilantius  in 
the  early  Church ; — ^^his  name  might  be  interpreted  *  The 
Watchful.'  He  was  at  issue  with  St.  Jerome  about  certain 
vigils;  these  he  thought  perilous  to  Christian  morality, 
while  Jerome  was  a  very  eager  promoter  of  them;  who 
instantly  gave  a  turn  to  his  name,  and  proclaimed  that  he, 
the  enemy  of  these  watches,  the  partisan  of  slumber  and 
sloth,  should  have  been  not  Vigilantius  or  The  Watcher, 
but  '  Dormitantius  '  or  The  Sleeper  rather.  Felix,  Bishop 
of  Urgel,  a  chief  champion  in  the  eighth  century  of  the 
Adoptianist  heresy,  is  constantly  *  Infelix  '  in  the  writings 
of  his  adversary  Alcuin.  The  Spanish  peasantry  during  the 
Peninsular  War  would  not  hear  of  Bonaparte,  but  changed 
the  name  to  '  Malaparte,'  as  designating  far  better  the  per- 
fidious kidnapper  of  their  king  and  enemy  of  their  inde- 

25 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

pendence.  It  will  be  seen  then  that  ^Eschylus  is  most 
true  to  nature,  when  in  his  Prometheus  Bound  he  makes 
Strength  tauntingly  to  remind  Prometheus,  or  The  Prudent, 
how  ill  his  name  and  the  lot  which  he  has  made  for  him- 
self agreed,  bound  as  he  is  with  adamantine  chains  to  his 
rock,  and  bound,  as  it  might  seem,  for  ever.  When  Napo- 
leon said  of  Count  Lobau,  whose  proper  name  was  Mouton, 
'  Mon  mouton  e'est  un  lion,'  it  was  the  same  instinct  at  work, 
though  working  from  an  opposite  point.  It  made  itself  felt 
no  less  in  the  bitter  irony  which  gave  to  the  second  of  the 
Ptolemies,  the  brother-murdering  king,  the  title  of  Phila- 
delphus. 

But  more  frequent  still  is  this  hostile  use  of  names,  this 
attempt  to  place  them  and  their  owners  in  the  most  intimate 
connexion,  to  make,  so  to  speak,  the  man  answerable  for  his 
name,  where  the  name  does  not  thus  need  to  be  reversed; 
but  may  be  made  as  it  now  is,  or  with  very  slightest  change, 
to  contain  a  confession  of  the  ignorance,  worthlessness,  or 
futility  of  the  bearer.  If  it  implies,  or  can  be  made  to 
imply,  anything  bad,  it  is  instantly  laid  hold  of  as  express- 
ing the  very  truth  about  him.  You  know  the  story  of  Helen 
of  Greece,  whom  in  two  of  his  '  mighty  lines  '  Marlowe's 
Faust  so  magnificently  apostrophizes: 

'  Was  this  the  face  that  launched  a  thousand  ships. 
And  burned  the  topless  towers  of  Ilium  ?  ' 

It  is  no  frigid  conceit  of  the  Greek  poet,  when  one  passion- 
ately denouncing  the  ruin  which  she  wrought,  finds  that  ruin 
couched  and  foreannounced  in  her  name;  ^^  as  in  English  it 
might  be,  and  has  been,  reproduced — 

'Hell  in  her  name,  and  heaven  in  her  looks,* 

Or  take  other  illustrations.  Pope  Hildebrand  in  one  of  our 
Homilies  is  styled  '  Brand  of  Hell,'  as  setting  the  world  in 

26 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

a  blaze ;  as  '  Hollenbrand  '  he  appears  constantly  in  Ger- 
man. Tott  and  TeufFel  were  two  officers  of  high  rank  in 
the  army  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  brought  with  him  into 
Germany.  You  may  imagine  how  soon  those  of  the  other 
side  declared  that  he  had  brought  '  death  '  and  *  hell '  in  his 
train.  There  were  two  not  inconsiderable  persons  in  the 
time  of  our  Civil  Wars,  Vane  (not  the  '  young  Vane  '  of 
Milton's  and  Wordsworth's  sonnets),  and  Sterry;  and  one 
of  these,  Sterry,  was  chaplain  to  the  other.  Baxter,  having 
occasion  to  mention  them  in  his  profoundly  instructive 
Narrative  of  his  Life  and  Times,  and  liking  neither,  cannot 
forbear  to  observe,  that  '  vanity  and  sterility  were  never 
more  fitly  joined  together';  and  speaks  elsewhere  of  'the 
vanity  of  Vane,  and  the  sterility  of  Sterry.'  This  last,  let 
me  observe,  is  an  eminently  unjust  charge,  as  Baxter  him- 
self in  a  later  volume  ^^  has  very  handsomely  acknowl- 
edged.^^ 

Where,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  desired  to  do  a  man  hon- 
our, how  gladly,  in  like  manner,  is  his  name  seized  on,  if 
it  in  any  way  bears  an  honourable  significance,  or  is  capable 
of  an  honourable  interpretation — men  finding  in  that  name 
a  presage  and  phophecy  of  that  which  was  actually  in  its 
bearer.  A  multitude  of  examples,  many  of  them  very  beau- 
tiful, might  be  brought  together  in  this  kind.  How  often, 
for  instance,  and  with  what  effect,  the  name  of  Stephen, 
the  protomartyr,  that  name  signifying  in  Greek  '  the  Crown,' 
was  taken  as  a  prophetic  intimation  of  the  martyr-crown, 
which  it  should  be  given  to  him,  the  first  in  that  noble  army, 
to  wear.^^  Irenaeus  means  in  Greek  '  the  Peaceable  ' ;  and 
early  Church  writers  love  to  remark  how  fitly  the  illustrious 
Bishop  of  Lyons  bore  this  name,  setting  forward  as  he  so 
earnestly  did  the  peace  of  the  Church,  resolved  as  he  was, 
so  far  as  in  him  lay,  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace.^^     The  Dominicans  were  well  pleased 

27 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

when  their  name  was  resolved  into  *  Domini  canes  ' — the 
Lord's  watchdogs;  who,  as  such,  allowed  no  heresy  to 
appear  without  at  once  giving  the  alarm,  and  seeking  to 
chase  it  away.  When  Ben  Jonson  praises  Shakespeare's 
'  well-filed  lines  ' — 

'  In  each  of  which  he  seems  to  shake  a  lance 
As  brandished  in  the  eyes  of  ignorance  ' — 

he  is  manifestly  playing  with  his  name.  Fuller,  too,  our 
own  Church  historian,  who  played  so  often  upon  the  names 
of  others,  has  a  play  made  upon  his  own  in  some  commenda- 
tory verses  prefixed  to  one  of  his  books: 

'  Thy  style  is  clear  and  white ;  thy  very  name 
Speaks  pureness,  and  adds  lustre  to  the  frame.* 

He  plays  himself  upon  it  in  an  epigram  which  takes  the 
form  of  a  prayer: 

'  My  soul  is  stained  with  a  dusky  colour : 
Let  thy  Son  be  the  soap ;  I'll  be  the  fuller.* 

John  Careless,  whose  letters  are  among  the  most  beautiful 
in  Foxe's  Booh  of  Martyrs,  writing  to  Philpot,  exclaims, 
*  Oh  good  master  Philpot,  which  art  a  principal  pot  indeed, 
filled  with  much  precious  liquor, — oh  pot  most  happy!  of 
the  High  Potter  ordained  to  honour.' 

Herein,  in  this  faith  that  men's  names  were  true  and 
would  come  true,  in  this,  and  not  in  any  altogether  unreason- 
ing superstition,  lay  the  root  of  the  carefulness  of  the  Ro- 
mans that  in  the  enlisting  of  soldiers  names  of  good  omen, 
such  as  Valerius,  Salvius,  Secundus,  should  be  the  first  called. 
Scipio  Africanus,  reproaching  his  soldiers  after  a  mutiny, 
finds  an  aggravation  of  their  crime  in  the  fact  that  one  with 
so  ill-omened  a  name  as  Atrius  Umber  should  have  seduced 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

them,  and  persuaded  them  to  take  him  for  their  leader. 
So  strong  is  the  conviction  of  men  that  names  are  powers. 
Nay,  it  must  have  been  sometimes  thought  that  the  good 
name  might  so  react  on  the  evil  nature  that  it  should  not 
remain  evil  altogether,  but  might  be  induced,  in  part  at 
least,  to  conform  itself  to  the  designation  which  it  bore. 
Here  we  have  an  explanation  of  the  title  Eumenides,  or  the 
Well-minded,  given  to  the  Furies;  of  Euxine,  or  the  kind 
to  strangers,  to  the  inhospitable  Black  Sea,  '  stepmother  of 
ships,'  as  the  Greek  poet  called  it;  the  explanation  too  of 
other  similar  transformations,  of  the  Greek  Egesta  trans- 
formed by  the  Romans  into  *  Segesta,'  that  it  might  not 
suggest  '  egestas  '  or  penury ;  of  Epidamnus,  which,  in  like 
manner  seeming  too  suggestive  of  '  damnum,'  or  loss,  was 
changed  into  *  Dyrrachium  ' ;  of  Maleventum,  which  became 

*  Beneventum ' ;  of  Cape  Tormentoso,  or  Stormy  Cape, 
changed  into  '  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ' ;  of  the  fairies  being 
always  respectfully  spoken  of  as  '  the  good  people  '  in  Ire- 
land, even  while  they  are  accredited  with  any  amount  of 
mischief ;  of  the  dead  spoken  of  alike  in  Greek  and  in  Latin 
simply  as  *  the  majority  ';  of  the  dying,  in  Greek  liturgies 
remembered  as  'those  about  to  set  forward  upon  a  jour- 
ney '  ;-^  of  the  slain  in  battle  designated  in  German  as  '  those 
who  remain,'  that  is,  on  the  field  of  battle;  of  evXoyia,  or 

*  the  blessing,'  as  a  name  given  in  modern  Greek  to  the 
smallpox!  We  may  compare  as  an  example  of  this  same 
euphemism  the  famous  '  Vixerunt '  with  which  Cicero 
announced  that  the  conspirators  against  the  Roman  State 
had  paid  the  full  penalty  of  their  treason. 

Let  me  observe,  before  leaving  this  subject,  that  not  in 
one  passage  only,  but  in  passages  innumerable.  Scripture 
sets  its  seal  to  this  significance  of  names,  to  the  fact  that 
the  seeking  and  the  finding  of  this  significance  is  not  a  mere 
play  upon  the  surface  of  things:  it  everywhere  recognizes 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

the  inner  band^  which  ought  to  connect^  and  in  a  world  of 
truth  would  connect,  together  the  name  and  the  person  or 
thing  bearing  the  name.  Scripture  sets  its  seal  to  this  by  the 
weight  and  solemnity  which  it  everywhere  attaches  to  the 
imposing  of  names ;  this  in  many  instances  not  being  left  to 
hazard,  but  assumed  by  God  as  his  own  peculiar  care. 
'  Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus  '  (Matt.  1 :  21 ;  Luke  1 :  31) 
is  of  course  the  most  illustrious  instance  of  all ;  but  there  is  a 
multitude  of  other  cases  in  point;  names  given  by  God, 
as  that  of  John  to  the  Baptist;  or  changed  by  Him,  as 
Abram's  to  Abraham  (Gen.  17:3),  Sarai's  to  Sarah, 
Hoshea's  to  Joshua;  or  new  names  added  by  Him  to  the 
old,  when  by  some  mighty  act  of  faith  the  man  had  been 
lifted  out  of  his  old  life  into  a  new;  as  Israel  added  to 
Jacob,  and  Peter  to  Simon,  and  Boanerges  or  Sons  of  Thun- 
der to  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  (Mark  3:  17).  The  same 
feeling  is  at  work  elsewhere.  A  Pope  on  his  election  always 
takes  a  new  name.  Or  when  it  is  intended  to  make,  for 
good  or  for  ill,  an  entire  breach  with  the  past,  this  is  one  of 
the  means  by  which  it  is  sought  to  effect  as  much  (2  Chr. 
36:4;  Dan.  1:7).  How  far  this  custom  reaches,  how 
deep  the  roots  which  it  casts,  is  exemplified  well  in  the  fact 
that  the  West  Indian  buccaneer  makes  a  like  change  of 
name  on  entering  that  society  of  blood.  It  is  in  both  cases 
a  sort  of  token  that  old  things  have  passed  away,  that  all 
have  become  new  to  him. 

But  we  must  draw  to  a  close.  Enough  has  been  said  to 
attest  and  to  justify  the  wide-spread  faith  of  men  that 
names  are  significant,  and  that  things  and  persons  corre- 
spond, or  ought  to  correspond,  to  them.  You  will  not,  then, 
find  it  a  laborious  task  to  persuade  your  pupils  to  admit  as 
much.  They  are  prepared  to  accept,  they  will  be  prompt 
to  believe  it.  And  great  indeed  will  be  our  gains,  their  gains 
and  ours, — for  teacher  and  taught  will  for  the  most  part 

30 


INTRODUCTORY     LECTURE 

enrich  themselves  together, — if,  having  these  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge  lying  round  about  us,  so  far  more 
precious  than  mines  of  Calif ornian  gold,  we  determine  that 
we  will  make  what  portion  of  them  we  can  our  own,  that 
we  will  ask  the  words  which  we  use  to  give  an  account 
of  themselves,  to  say  whence  they  are,  and  whither  they 
tend.  Then  shall  we  often  rub  off  the  dust  and  rust  from 
what  seemed  to  us  but  a  common  token,  which  as  such  we 
had  taken  and  given  a  thousand  times;  but  which  now  we 
shall  perceive  to  be  a  precious  coin,  bearing  the  '  image  and 
superscription  '  of  the  great  King:  then  shall  we  often  stand 
in  surprise  and  in  something  of  shame,  while  we  behold 
the  great  spiritual  realities  which  underlie  our  common 
speech,  the  marvellous  truths  which  we  have  been  witness- 
ing for  in  our  words,  but,  it  may  be,  witnessing  against  in 
our  lives.  And  as  you  will  not  find,  for  so  I  venture  to 
promise,  that  this  study  of  words  will  be  a  dull  one  when  you 
undertake  it  yourselves,  as  little  need  you  fear  that  it  will 
prove  dull  and  unattractive,  when  you  seek  to  make  your 
own  gains  herein  the  gains  also  of  those  who  may  be  here- 
after committed  to  your  charge.  Only  try  your  pupils,  and 
mark  the  kindling  of  the  eye,  the  lighting  up  of  the  counte- 
nance, the  revival  of  the  flagging  attention,  with  which  the 
humblest  lecture  upon  words,  and  on  the  words  especially 
which  they  are  daily  using,  which  are  familiar  to  them  in 
their  play  or  at  their  church,  will  be  welcomed  by  them. 
There  is  a  sense  of  reality  about  children  which  makes 
them  rejoice  to  discover  that  there  is  also  a  reality  about 
words,  that  they  are  not  merely  arbitrary  signs,  but  living 
powers;  that,  to  reverse  the  saying  of  one  of  England's 
*  false  prophets,'  they  may  be  the  fool's  counters,  but  are  the 
wise  man's  money;  not,  like  the  sands  of  the  sea,  innumer- 
able disconnected  atoms,  but  growing  out  of  roots,  cluster- 
ing in  families,  connecting  and  intertwining  themselves  with 

SI 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

all  that  men  have  been  doing  and  thinking  and  feeling  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  till  now. 

And  it  is  of  course  our  English  tongue,  out  of  which 
mainly  we  should  seek  to  draw  some  of  the  hid  treasures 
which  it  contains,  from  which  we  should  endeavour  to  remove 
the  veil  which  custom  and  familiarity  have  thrown  over  it 
We  cannot  employ  ourselves  better.  There  is  nothing  that 
will  more  help  than  will  this  to  form  an  English  heart  in 
oursches  and  in  others.  We  could  scarcely  have  a  single 
lesson  on  the  growth  of  our  English  tongue,  we  could 
scarcely  follow  up  one  of  its  significant  words,  without  hav- 
ing unawares  a  lesson  in  English  history  as  well,  without 
not  merely  falling  on  some  curious  fact  illustrative  of  our 
national  life,  but  learning  also  how  the  great  heart  which 
is  beating  at  the  centre  of  that  life  was  gradually  shaped 
and  moulded.  We  should  thus  grow  too  in  our  sense  of 
connexion  with  the  past,  of  gratitude  and  reverence  to  it; 
we  should  rate  more  highly  and  thus  more  truly  all  which 
it  has  bequeathed  to  us,  all  that  it  has  made  ready  to  our 
hands.  It  was  not  a  small  matter  for  the  children  of  Israel, 
when  they  came  into  Canaan,  to  enter  upon  wells  which 
they  digged  not,  and  vineyards  which  they  had  not  planted, 
and  houses  which  they  had  not  built;  but  how  much  vaster 
a  boon,  how  much  more  glorious  a  prerogative,  for  any  one 
generation  to  enter  upon  the  inheritance  of  a  language  which 
other  generations  by  their  truth  and  toil  have  made  already 
a  receptacle  of  choicest  treasures,  a  storehouse  of  so  much 
unconscious  wisdom,  a  fit  organ  for  expressing  the  subtlest 
distinctions,  the  tenderest  sentiments,  the  largest  thoughts, 
and  the  loftiest  imaginations,  which  the  heart  of  man  has 
at  any  time  conceived.  And  that  those  who  have  preceded 
us  have  gone  far  to  accomplish  this  for  us,  I  shall  rejoice 
if  I  am  able  in  any  degree  to  make  you  feel  in  the  lectures 
which  will  follow  the  present. 

32 


LECTURE     2 

On  the  Poetry  in   Words 

I  said  in  my  last  lecture,  or  rather  I  quoted  another  who 
had  said,  that  language  is  fossil  poetry.  It  is  true  that 
for  us  very  often  this  poetry  which  is  bound  up  in  words  has 
in  great  part  or  altogether  disappeared.  We  fail  to  recog- 
nize it,  partly  from  long  familiarity  with  it,  partly  from 
insufficient  knowledge,  partly,  it  may  be,  from  never  having 
had  our  attention  called  to  it.  None  have  pointed  it  out  to 
us;  we  may  not  ourselves  have  possessed  the  means  of 
detecting  it ;  and  thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  we  have  been 
in  close  vicinity  to  this  wealth,  which  yet  has  not  been  ours. 
Margaret  has  not  been  for  us  '  the  Pearl,'  nor  Esther  *  the 
Star,'  nor  Susanna  '  the  Lily,'^^  nor  Stephen  '  the  Crown/ 
nor  Albert  '  the  illustrious  in  birth.'  *  In  our  ordinary  lan- 
guage,' as  Montaigne  has  said,  '  there  are  several  excel- 
lent phrases  and  metaphors  to  be  met  with,  of  which  the 
beauty  is  withered  by  age,  and  the  colour  is  sullied  by  too 
common  handling;  but  that  takes  nothing  from  the  relish 
to  an  understanding  man,  neither  does  it  derogate  from  the 
glory  of  those  ancient  authors,  who,  'tis  likely,  first  brought 
those  words  into  that  lustre.'  We  read  in  one  of  Moliere's 
most  famous  comedies  of  one  who  was  surprised  to  discover 
that  he  had  been  talking  prose  all  his  life  without  being 
aware  of  it.  If  we  knew  all,  we  might  be  much  more  sur- 
prised to  find  that  we  had  been  talking  poetry,  without  ever 
having  so  much  as  suspected  this.  For  indeed  poetry  and 
passion  seek  to  insinuate,  and  do  insinuate  themselves  every- 
where in  language;  they  preside  continually  at  the  giving 
of  names;  they  enshrine  and  incarnate  themselves  in  these; 

33 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

for  '  poetry  is  the  mother  tongue  of  the  human  race/  as 
a  great  German  writer  has  said.  My  present  lecture  shall 
contain  a  few  examples  and  illustrations,  by  which  I  would 
make  the  truth  of  this  appear. 

'  Iliads  without  a  Homer/  some  one  has  called,  with  a 
little  exaggeration,  the  beautiful  but  anonymous  ballad 
poetry  of  Spain.  One  may  be  permitted,  perhaps,  to  push 
the  exaggeration  a  little  further  in  the  same  direction, 
and  to  apply  the  same  language  not  merely  to  a  ballad  but 
to  a  word.  For  poetry,  which  is  passion  and  imagination 
embodying  themselves  in  words,  does  not  necessarily  demand 
a  combination  of  words  for  this.  Of  this  passion  and  imag- 
ination a  single  word  may  be  the  vehicle.  As  the  sun  can 
image  itself  alike  in  a  tiny  dewdrop  or  in  the  mighty  ocean, 
and  can  do  it,  though  on  a  different  scale,  as  perfectly  in 
the  one  as  in  the  other,  so  the  spirit  of  poetry  can  dwell 
in  and  glorify  alike  a  word  and  an  Iliad.  Nothing  in  lan- 
guage is  too  small,  as  nothing  is  too  great,  for  it  to  fill 
with  its  presence.  Everywhere  it  can  find,  or,  not  finding, 
can  make,  a  shrine  for  itself,  which  afterwards  it  can  render 
translucent  and  transparent  with  its  own  indwelling  glory. 
On  every  side  we  are  beset  with  poetry.  Popular  language 
is  full  of  it,  of  words  used  in  an  imaginative  sense,  of  things 
called — and  not  merely  in  transient  moments  of  high  passion, 
and  in  the  transfer  which  at  such  moments  finds  place  of 
the  image  to  the  thing  imaged,  but  permanently, — by  names 
having  immediate  reference  not  to  what  they  are,  but  to 
what  they  are  like.  All  language  is  in  some  sort,  as  one  has 
said,  a  collection  of  faded  metaphors. ^^ 

Sometimes,  indeed,  they  have  not  faded  at  all.  Thus  at 
Naples  it  is  the  ordinary  language  to  call  the  lesser  storm- 
waves  '  pecore,'  or  sheep ;  the  larger  *  cavalloni,'  or  big 
horses.  Who  that  has  watched  the  foaming  crests,  the  white 
manes,  as  it  were,  of  the  larger  billows  as  they  advance  in 

34 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

measured  order,  and  rank  on  rank,  into  the  bay,  but  will 
own  not  merely  the  fitness,  but  the  grandeur,  of  this  last 
image?  Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning  more  at  length  by 
the  word  '  tribulation.'  We  all  know  in  a  general  way  that 
this  word,  which  occurs  not  seldom  in  Scripture  and  in  the 
Prayer  Book,  means  affliction,  sorrow,  anguish;  but  it  is 
quite  worth  our  while  to  know  how  it  means  this,  and  to 
question  '  tribulation  '  a  little  closer.  It  is  derived  from  the 
Latin  *  tribulum,'  which  was  the  threshing  instrument  or 
harrow,  whereby  the  Roman  husbandman  separated  the  corn 
from  the  husks ;  and  '  tribulatio  '  in  its  primary  signification 
was  the  act  of  this  separation.  But  some  Latin  writer  of 
the  Christian  Church  appropriated  the  word  and  image  for 
the  setting  forth  of  a  higher  truth;  and  sorrow,  distress, 
and  adversity  being  the  appointed  means  for  the  separating 
in  men  of  whatever  in  them  was  light,  trivial,  and  poor 
from  the  solid  and  the  true,  their  chaff  from  their  wheat,^^ 
he  therefore  called  these  sorrows  and  trials  *  tribulations,' 
threshings,  that  is,  of  the  inner  spiritual  man,  without  which 
there  could  be  no  fitting  him  for  the  heavenly  garner.  Now 
in  proof  of  my  assertion  that  a  single  word  is  often  a  con- 
centrated poem,  a  little  grain  of  pure  gold  capable  of  being 
beaten  out  into  a  broad  extent  of  gold-leaf,  I  will  quote, 
in  reference  to  this  very  word  '  tribulation,'  a  graceful  com- 
position by  George  Wither,  a  prolific  versifier,  and  occa- 
sionally a  poet,  of  the  seventeenth  century.  You  will  at 
once  perceive  that  it  is  all  wrapped  up  in  this  word,  being 
from  first  to  last  only  the  explicit  unfolding  of  the  image 
and  thought  which  this  word  has  implicitly  given;  it  is  as 
follows : 

'  Till  from  the  straw  the  flail  the  corn  doth  beat. 
Until  the  chaff  be  purged  from  the  wheat. 
Yea,  till  the  mill  the  grains  in  pieces  tear. 
The  richness  of  the  flour  will  scarce  appear. 
35 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

So,  till  men's  persons  great  afflictions  touch, 
If  worth  be  found,  their  worth  is  not  so  much, 
Because,  like  wheat  in  straw,  they  have  not  yet 
That  value  which  in  threshing  they  may  get. 
For  till  the  bruising  flails  of  God's  corrections 
Have  threshed  out  of  us  our  vain  affections  ; 
Till  those  corruptions  which  do  misbecome  us 
Are  by  Thy  sacred  Spirit  winnowed  from  us  ; 
Until  from  us  the  straw  of  wordly  treasures, 
Till  all  the  dusty  chaff*  of  empty  pleasures. 
Yea,  till  His  flail  upon  us  He  doth  lay, 
To  thresh  the  husk  of  this  our  flesh  away  ; 
And  leave  the  soul  uncovered  ;  nay,  yet  more. 
Till  God  shall  make  our  very  spirit  poor. 
We  shall  not  up  to  highest  wealth  aspire  ; 
But  then  we  shall ;  and  that  is  my  desire.' 

This  deeper  religious  use  of  the  word  *  tribulation  *  was 
unknown  to  classical  antiquity,  belonging  exclusively  to  the 
Christian  writers;  and  the  fact  that  the  same  deepening 
and  elevating  of  the  use  of  words  recurs  in  a  multitude  of 
other,  and  many  of  them  far  more  signal,  instances,  is  one 
well  deserving  to  be  followed  up.  Nothing,  I  am  persuaded, 
would  more  mightily  convince  us  of  the  new  power  which 
Christianity  proved  in  the  world  than  to  compare  the  mean- 
ing which  so  many  words  possessed  before  its  rise,  and  the 
deeper  meaning  which  they  obtained,  so  soon  as  they  were 
assumed  as  the  vehicles  of  its  life,  the  new  thought  and 
feeling  enlarging,  purifying,  and  ennobling  the  very  words 
which  they  employed.  This  is  a  subject  which  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  touch  on  more  than  once  in  these  lectures,  but 
is  Hself  well  worthy  of,  as  it  would  aff"ord  ample  material 
for,  a  volume. 

On  the  suggestion  of  this  word  *  tribulation,*  I  will  quote 
two  or  three  words  from  Coleridge,  bearing  on  the  matter 
in  hand.     He  has  said^  '  In  order  to  get  the  full  sense  of  a 

36 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

word,  we  should  first  present  to  our  minds  the  visual  image 
that  forms  its  primary  meaning.'  What  admirable  counsel 
is  here!  If  we  would  but  accustom  ourselves  to  the  doing 
of  this,  what  a  vast  increase  of  precision  and  force  would 
all  the  language  which  we  speak,  and  which  others  speak 
to  us,  obtain;  how  often  would  that  which  is  now  obscure 
at  once  become  clear ;  how  distinct  the  limits  and  boundaries 
of  that  which  is  often  now  confused  and  confounded !  It 
is  difficult  to  measure  the  amount  of  food  for  the  imagina- 
tion, as  well  as  gains  for  the  intellect,  which  the  observing 
of  this  single  rule  would  afford  us.  Let  me  illustrate  this  by 
one  or  two  examples.  We  say  of  such  a  man  that  he  is 
'  desultory.'  Do  we  attach  any  very  distinct  meaning  to 
the  word.^  Perhaps  not.  But  get  at  the  image  on  which 
'  desultory  '  rests ;  take  the  word  to  pieces ;  learn  that  it  is 
from  '  desultor,'  one  who  rides  two  or  three  horses  at  once, 
leaps  from  one  to  the  other,  being  never  on  the  back  of  any 
one  of  them  long;  take,  I  say,  the  word  thus  to  pieces,  and 
put  it  together  again,  and  what  a  firm  and  vigorous  grasp 
will  you  have  now  of  its  meaning !  A  *  desultory  '  man  is 
one  who  jumps  from  one  study  to  another,  and  never  con- 
tinues for  any  length  of  time  in  one.  Again,  you  speak  of 
a  person  as  '  capricious,'  or  as  full  of  *  caprices.'  But 
what  exactly  are  caprices  ?  *  Caprice  '  is  from  capra,  a  goat. 
If  ever  you  have  watched  a  goat,  you  will  have  observed  how 
sudden,  how  unexpected,  how  unaccountable,  are  the  leaps 
and  springs,  now  forward,  now  sideward,  now  upward,  in 
which  it  indulges.  A  *  caprice  '  then  is  a  movement  of  the 
mind  as  unaccountable,  as  little  to  be  calculated  on  before- 
hand, as  the  springs  and  bounds  of  a  goat.  Is  not  the  word 
so  understood  a  far  more  picturesque  one  than  it  was 
before  .f*  and  is  there  not  some  real  gain  in  the  vigour  and 
vividness  of  impression  which  is  in  this  way  obtained? 
*  Pavaner '  is  the  French  equivalent  for  our  verb  '  to  strut,' 

37 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

*  fourmiller  '  for  our  verb  '  to  swarm.'  But  is  it  not  a  real 
gain  to  know  further  that  the  one  is  to  strut  as  the  peacock 
does,  the  other  to  swarm  as  do  ants?  There  are  at 
the  same  time,  as  must  be  freely  owned,  investigations, 
moral  no  less  than  material,  in  which  the  nearer  the  words 
employed  approach  to  an  algebraic  notation,  and  the  less 
disturbed  or  coloured  they  are  by  any  reminiscences  of  the 
ultimate  grounds  on  which  they  rest,  the  better  they  are 
likely  to  fulfil  the  duties  assigned  to  them;  but  these  are 
exceptions. ^^ 

The  poetry  which  has  been  embodied  in  the  names  of 
places,  in  those  names  which  designate  the  leading  features 
of  outward  nature,  promontories,  mountains,  capes,  and  the 
like,  is  very  worthy  of  being  elicited  and  evoked  anew, 
latent  as  it  now  has  oftentimes  become.  Nowhere  do  we  so 
easily  forget  that  names  had  once  a  peculiar  fitness,  which 
was  the  occasion  of  their  giving.  Colour  has  often  sug- 
gested the  name,  as  in  the  well-known  instance  of  our  own 
'  Albion,' — *  the  silver-coasted  isle,'  as  Tennyson  so  beauti- 
fully has  called  it, — which  had  this  name  from  the  white 
line  of  cliffs  presented  by  it  to  those  approaching  it  by  the 
narrow  seas.  '  Himalaya  '  is  *  the  abode  of  snow.'  Often, 
too,  shape  and  configuration  are  incorporated  in  the  name, 
as  in  '  Trinacria,'  or  '  the  three-promontoried  land,'  which 
was  the  Greek  name  of  Sicily ;  in  '  Drepanum,'  or  '  the 
sickle,'  the  name  which  a  town  on  the  north-west  prom- 
ontory of  the  island  bore,  from  the  sickle-shaped  tongue 
of  land  on  which  it  was  built.  But  more  striking,  as 
the  embodiment  of  a  poetical  feeling,  is  the  modern 
name  of  the  great  southern  peninsula  of  Greece.  We 
are  all  aware  that  it  is  called  the  *  Morea ' ;  but  we 
may  not  be  so  well  aware  from  whence  that  name  is  derived. 
It  had  long  been  the  fashion  among  ancient  geographers 
to  compare  the  shape  of  tliis  region  to  a  platane  leaf ;  ^^ 

38 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

and  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  the  general  outline 
of  that  leaf,  with  its  sharply-incised  edges,  justified  the 
comparison.  This,  however,  had  remained  merely  as  a  com- 
parison; but  at  the  shifting  and  changing  of  names,  that 
went  with  the  breaking  up  of  the  old  Greek  and  Roman  civil- 
ization, the  resemblance  of  this  region  to  a  leaf,  not  now 
any  longer  a  platane,  but  a  mulberry  leaf,  appeared  so 
strong,  that  it  exchanged  its  classic  name  of  Peloponnesus 
for  *  Morea,'  which  embodied  men's  sense  of  this  resem- 
blance, morus  being  a  mulberry  tree  in  Latin,  and  fiopia 
in  Greek.  This  etymology  of  '  Morea  '  has  been  called  in 
question ;  ^^  but,  as  it  seems  to  me,  on  no  sufficient  grounds. 
Deducing,  as  one  objector  does,  '  Morea  '  from  a  Slavonic 
word  'more/  the  sea,  he  finds  in  this  derivation  a  support 
for  his  favourite  notion  that  the  modern  population  of 
Greece  is  not  descended  from  the  ancient,  but  consists  in 
far  the  larger  proportion  of  intrusive  Slavonic  races.  Two 
mountains  near  Dublin,  which  we,  keeping  in  the  grocery 
line,  have  called  the  Great  and  the  Little  Sugarloaf,  are 
named  in  Irish  '  the  Golden  Spears.' 

In  other  ways  also  the  names  of  places  will  oftentimes 
embody  some  poetical  aspect  under  which  now  or  at  some 
former  period  men  learned  to  regard  them.  Oftentimes 
when  discoverers  come  upon  a  new  land  they  will  seize 
with  a  firm  grasp  of  the  imagination  the  most  striking 
feature  which  it  presents  to  their  eyes,  and  permanently 
embody  this  in  a  word.  Thus  the  island  of  Madeira  is  now, 
I  believe,  nearly  bare  of  wood;  but  its  sides  were  covered 
with  forests  at  the  time  when  it  was  first  discovered,  and 
hence  the  name,  '  madeira  '  in  Portuguese  having  this  mean- 
ing of  wood.  Some  have  said  that  the  first  Spanish  discov- 
erers of  Florida  gave  it  this  name  from  the  rich  carpeting 
of  flowers  which,  at  the  time  when  first  their  eyes  beheld 
it,    everywhere  covered   the   soil.      Surely    Florida,   as   the 


;         THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

name  passes  under  our  eye,  or  from  our  lips,  is  something 
more  than  it  was  before,  when  we  may  thus  think  of  it  as 
the  land  of  flowers."'  The  name  of  Port  Natal  also  embodies 
a  fact  which  must  be  of  interest  to  its  inhabitants,  namely, 
that  this  port  was  discovered  on  Christmas  Day,  the  dies 
natalis  of  our  Lord. 

Then  again  what  poetry  is  there,  as  indeed  there  ought  to 
be,  in  the  names  of  flowers !  I  do  not  speak  of  those,  the 
exquisite  grace  and  beauty  of  whose  names  is  so  forced  on 
us  that  we  cannot  miss  it,  such  as  '  Aaron's  rod,'  '  angel's 
eyes,'  '  bloody  warrior,'  *  blue-bell,'  '  crown  imperial,' 
'  cuckoo-flower,'  blossoming  as  this  orchis  does  when  the 
cuckoo  is  first  heard,^*  '  eye-bright,'  *  forget-me-not,'  '  gilt- 
cup  '  (a  local  name  for  the  butter-cup,  drawn  from  the 
golden  gloss  of  its  petals),  *  hearts-ease,'  '  herb-of -grace,' 
'  Jacob's  ladder,'  '  king-cup,'  '  lady's  fingers,'  *  Lady's 
smock,'  *  Lady's  tresses,'  '  larkspur,'  *  Lent  lily,'  '  loose- 
strife, '  love-in-idleness,'  '  Love  lies  bleeding,'  '  maiden- 
blush,'  '  maiden-hair,'  *  meadow-sweet,'  *  Our  Lady's  man- 
tle,' '  Our  Lady's  slipper,'  '  queen-of-the-meadows,'  '  reine- 
marguerite,'  '  rosemary,'  '  snow-flake,'  *  Solomon's  seal,' 
'  star  of  Bethlehem,'  '  sundew,'  '  sweet  Alison,'  '  sweet 
Cicely,'  '  sweet  William,'  *  Traveller's  joy,'  '  Venus'  looking- 
glass,'  '  Virgin's  bower,'  and  the  like ;  but  take  '  daisy  ' ; 
surely  this  charming  little  English  flower,  which  has  stirred 
the  peculiar  affection  of  English  poets  from  Chaucer  to 
Wordsworth,  and  received  the  tribute  of  their  song,^^  be- 
comes more  charming  yet,  when  we  know,  as  Chaucer  long 
ago  has  told  us,  that  '  daisy  '  is  day's  eye,  or  in  its  early 
spelling  '  daieseighe,'  the  eye  of  day ;  these  are  his  words : 

*  That  wel  by  reson  men  hit  calle  may 
The  ^^dayesye  "  or  elles  the  "ye  of  day."  ' 

Chaucer,  Legend  of  Good  Women,  Prol.  184. 

40 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

For  only  consider  how  much  is  implied  here.  To  the  sun  in 
the  heavens  this  name,  eye  of  day,  was  naturally  first  given, 
and  those  who  transferred  the  title  to  our  little  field  flower 
meant  no  doubt  to  liken  its  inner  yellow  disk  or  shield  to  the 
great  golden  orb  of  the  sun,  and  the  white  florets  which 
encircle  this  disk  to  the  rays  which  the  sun  spreads  on  all 
sides  around  him.  What  imagination  was  here,  to  suggest 
a  comparison  such  as  this,  binding  together  as  this  does 
the  smallest  and  the  greatest !  what  a  travelling  of  the  poet's 
eye,  with  the  power  which  is  the  privilege  of  that  eye,  from 
earth  to  heaven,  and  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  of  linking 
both  together.  So  too,  call  up  before  your  mind's  eye  the 
'  lavish  gold  '  of  the  drooping  laburnum  when  in  flower,  and 
you  will  recognize  the  poetry  of  the  title,  *  the  golden  rain,' 
which  in  German  it  bears.  '  Celandine  '  does  not  so  clearly 
tell  its  own  tale;  and  it  is  only  when  you  have  followed 
up  the  ;)(€Ai8ovtov,  (swallow- wort),  of  which  '  celandine  ' 
is  the  English  representative,  that  the  word  will  yield  up 
the  poetry  which  is  concealed  in  it. 

And  then  again,  what  poetry  is  there  often  in  the  names 
of  birds  and  beasts  and  fishes,  and  indeed  of  all  the  ani- 
mated world  around  us;  how  marvellously  are  these  names 
adapted  often  to  bring  out  the  most  striking  and  character- 
istic features  of  the  objects  to  which  they  are  given.  Thus 
when  the  Romans  became  acquainted  with  the  stately 
giraffe,  long  concealed  from  them  in  the  interior  deserts  of 
Africa,  (which  we  learn  from  Pliny  they  first  did  in  the 
shows  exhibited  by  Julius  Caesar,)  it  was  happily  imagined 
to  designate  a  creature  combining,  though  with  infinitely 
more  grace,  something  of  the  height  and  even  the  proportions 
of  the  camel  with  the  spotted  skin  of  the  pard,  by  a  name 
which  should  incorporate  both  these  its  most  prominent 
features,^^  calling  it  the  '  camelopard.'  Nor  can  we,  I 
think,  hesitate  to  accept  that  account  as  the  true  one,  which 

41 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

describes  the  word  as  no  artificial  creation  of  scientific 
naturalists^  but  as  bursting  extempore  from  the  lips  of  the 
common  people^  who  after  all  are  the  truest  namers,  at  the 
first  moment  when  the  novel  creature  was  presented  to 
their  gaze.  '  Cerf-volant/  a  name  which  the  French  have 
so  happily  given  to  the  horned  scarabeus,  the  same  which 
we  somewhat  less  poetically  call  the  '  stag-beetle/  is  another 
example  of  what  may  be  effected  with  the  old  materials, 
by  merely  bringing  them   into  new  combinations. 

You  know  the  appearance  of  the  lizard,  and  the  star- 
like  shape  of  the  spots  which  are  sown  over  its  back.  Well, 
in  Latin  it  is  called  *  stellio,'  from  stella,  a  star;  just  as  the 
basilisk  had  in  Greek  this  name  of  '  little  king  '  because  of 
the  shape  as  of  a  kingly  crown  which  the  spots  on  its  head 
might  be  made  by  the  fancy  to  assume.  Follow  up  the 
etymology  of  '  squirrel/  and  you  will  find  that  the  graceful 
creature  which  bears  this  name  has  obtained  it  as  being  wont 
to  sit  under  the  shadow  of  its  own  tail.  Need  I  remind 
you  of  our  '  goldfinch/  evidently  so  called  from  that  bright 
patch  of  yellow  on  its  wing ;  our  '  kingfisher/  having  its 
name  from  the  royal  beauty,  the  kingly  splendour  of  the 
plumage  with  which  it  is  adorned?  Some  might  ask  why 
the  stormy  petrel,  a  bird  which  just  skims  and  floats  on  the 
topmost  wave,  should  bear  this  name.^  No  doubt  we  have 
here  the  French  '  petrel,'  or  little  Peter,  and  the  bird  has 
in  its  name  an  allusion  to  the  Apostle  Peter,  who  at  his 
Master's  bidding  walked  for  a  while  on  the  unquiet  surface 
of  an  agitated  sea.  The  '  lady-bird  '  or  '  lady-cow '  is 
prettily  named,  as  indeed  the  whole  legend  about  it  is  full 
of  grace  and  fancy;  but  a  common  name  which  in  many 
of  our  country  parts  this  creature  bears,  the  '  golden  knob,' 
is  prettier  still.  And  indeed  in  our  country  dialects  there 
is  a  wide  poetical  nomenclature  which  is  well  worthy  of 
recognition;  thus  the  shooting  lights  of  the  Aurora  Borealis 

42 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

are  in  Lancashire  *  the  Merry  Dancers  ' ;  clouds  piled  up 
in  a  particular  fashion  are  in  many  parts  of  England  styled 
*  Noah's  Ark  ' ;  the  puiF-ball  is  *  the  Devil's  snuiF-box  ' ;  the 
dragon-fly  '  the  Devil's  darning-needle ' ;  a  large  black 
beetle  '  the  Devil's  coach-horse.'  Any  one  v^^ho  has  watched 
the  kestrel  hanging  poised  in  the  air^  before  it  swoops 
upon  its  prey,  will  acknowledge  the  felicity  of  the 
name  *  windhover,'  or  sometimes  *  windfanner/  which  it 
popularly  bears. ^^ 

The  amount  is  very  large  of  curious  legendary  lore  which 
is  everywhere  bound  up  in  words,  and  which  they,  if  duly 
solicited,  will  give  back  to  us  again.  For  example,  the  Greek 
'  halcyon,'  which  we  have  adopted  without  change,  has 
reference,  and  wraps  up  in  itself  an  allusion,  to  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  significant  legends  of  heathen  antiquity; 
according  to  which  the  sea  preserved  a  perfect  calmness 
for  all  the  period,  the  fourteen  '  halcyon  days,'  during  which 
this  bird  was  brooding  over  her  nest.  The  poetry  of  the 
name  survives,  whether  the  name  suggested  the  legend,  or 
the  legend  the  name.  Take  again  the  names  of  some  of 
our  precious  stones,  as  of  the  topaz,  so  called,  as  some  said, 
because  men  were  only  able  to  conjecture  (roTra^ctv)  the 
position  of  the  cloud-concealed  island  from  which  it  was 
brought.^  ^ 

Very  curious  is  the  determination  which  some  words,  in- 
deed many,  seem  to  manifest,  that  their  poetry  shall  not 
die ;  or,  if  it  dies  in  one  form,  that  it  shall  revive  in  another. 
Thus  if  there  is  danger  that,  transferred  from  one  language 
to  another,  they  shall  no  longer  speak  to  the  imagination  of 
men  as  they  did  of  old,  they  will  make  to  themselves  a  new 
life,  they  will  acquire  a  new  soul  in  the  room  of  that  which 
has  ceased  to  quicken  and  inform  them  any  more.  Let  me 
make  clear  what  I  mean  by  two  or  three  examples.  The 
Germans,   knowing   nothing   of   carbuncles,   had   naturally 

43 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

no  word  of  their  own  for  them ;  and  when  they  first  found 
it  necessary  to  name  them,  as  naturally  borrowed  the 
Latin  '  carbunculus/  which  originally  had  meant  '  a  little 
live  coal,'  to  designate  these  precious  stones  of  a  fiery  red. 
But  '  carbunculus/  word  full  of  poetry  and  life  for  Latin- 
speaking  men,  would  have  been  only  an  arbitrary  sign  for  as 
many  as  were  ignorant  of  that  language.  What  then  did 
these,  or  what,  rather,  did  the  working  genius  of  the  lan- 
guage, do  ?  It  adopted,  but,  in  adopting,  modified  slightly  yet 
eflfectually  the  word,  changing  it  into  *  Karfunkel,'  thus 
retaining  the  framework  of  the  original,  yet  at  the  same 
time,  inasmuch  as  '  funkeln  '  signifies  *  to  sparkle,'  repro- 
ducing now  in  an  entirely  novel  manner  the  image  of  the 
bright  sparkling  of  the  stone,  for  every  knower  of  the  Ger- 
man tongue.  *  Margarita,'  or  pearl,  belongs  to  the  earliest 
group  of  Latin  words  adopted  into  English.  The  word, 
however,  told  nothing  about  itself  to  those  who  adopted  it. 
But  the  pearl  might  be  poetically  contemplated  as  the  sea- 
stone;  and  so  our  fathers  presently  transformed  '  mar- 
garita  '  into  '  mere-grot,'  which  means  nothing  less. 

Take  another  illustration  of  this  from  another  quarter. 
The  French  *  rossignol,'  a  nightingale,  is  undoubtedly  the 
Latin  '  lusciniola,'  the  diminutive  of  '  luscinia,'  with  the 
alteration,  due  to  dissimilation,  a  result  frequently  to  be 
observed  in  the  Romance  languages,  of  the  commencing  *  1 ' 
into  '  r.'  Whatever  may  be  the  etymology  of  '  luscinia,' 
it  is  plain  that  for  Frenchmen  in  general  the  word  would 
no  longer  suggest  any  meaning  at  all,  hardly  even  for 
French  scholars,  after  the  serious  transformations  which 
it  had  undergone ;  while  yet,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  exqui- 
sitely musical  *  rossignol,'  and  still  more  perhaps  in  the 
Italian  '  usignuolo,'  there  is  an  evident  intention  and  en- 
deavour to  express  something  of  the  music  of  the  bird's 
song  in  the  liquid  melody  of  the  imitative  name  which  it 

44 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

bears;  and  thus  to  put  a  new  soul  into  the  word^  in  lieu  of 
that  other  which  had  escaped.  Or  again — whatever  may  be 
the  meaning  of  Senlac,  the  name  given  by  Orderic  to  the 
ever-memorable  battle^  known  to  historians  as  the  Battle 
of  Hastings,  it  certainly  was  not  '  Sanglac/  or  Lake  of 
Blood;  the  word  only  shaping  itself  into  this  significant 
form  subsequently  to  the  battle^  and  in  consequence  of  it. 
One  or  two  examples  more  of  the  perishing  of  the  old 
life  in  a  word,  and  the  birth  of  a  new  in  its  stead,  may  be 
added.  The  old  name  of  Athens,  'A^^vat,  was  closely  linked 
with  the  fact  that  the  goddess  Pallas  Athene  was  the 
guardian  deity  of  the  city.  The  reason  of  the  name,  with 
other  facts  of  the  old  mythology,  faded  away  from  the 
memory  of  the  peasantry  of  modern  Greece;  but  Athens 
is  a  name  which  must  still  mean  something  for  them.  Ac- 
cordingly it  is  not  *AOrjvaL  now,  but  'AvOrjvaiy  or  the 
Blooming,  on  the  lips  of  the  peasantry  round  about;  so  Mr. 
Sayce  assures  us.  The  same  process  everywhere  meets  us. 
Thus  no  one  who  has  visited  Lucerne  can  fail  to  remember 
the  rugged  mountain  called  *  Pilatus  '  or  '  Mont  Pilate,* 
which  stands  opposite  to  him;  while  if  he  has  been  among 
the  few  who  have  cared  to  climb  it,  he  will  have  been  shown 
by  his  guide  the  lake  at  its  summit  in  which  Pontius  Pilate 
in  his  despair  drowned  himself,  with  an  assurance  that  from 
this  suicide  of  his  the  mountain  obtained  its  name.  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  *  Mont  Pilate  '  stands  for  '  Mons  Pileatus/ 
'  the  capped  hill ' ;  the  clouds,  as  one  so  often  sees,  gathering 
round  its  summit,  and  forming  the  shape  or  appearance  of  a 
cap  or  hat.  When  this  true  derivation  was  forgotten  or 
misunderstood,  the  other  explanation  was  invented  and 
imposed.  An  instructive  example  this,  let  me  observe  by 
the  way,  of  that  which  has  happened  continually  in  the  case 
of  far  older  legends ;  I  mean  that  the  name  has  suggested  that 
legend,  and  not  the   legend  the  name.     We  have  an   apt 

4.5 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

illustration  of  this  in  the  old  notion  that  the  crocodile 
(/cpoKoSetAos)  could  not  endure  saffron. 

I  have  said  that  poetry  and  imagination  seek  to  penetrate 
everywhere;  and  this  is  literally  true;  for  even  the  hardest, 
austerest  studies  cannot  escape  their  influence;  they  will 
put  something  of  their  own  life  into  the  dry  bones  of  a 
nomenclature  which  seems  the  remotest  from  them^  the 
most  opposed  to  them.  Thus  in  Danish  the  male  and  female 
lines  of  descent  and  inheritance  are  called  respectively  the 
sword-side  and  the  spindle-side.  He  who  in  prosody  called 
a  metrical  foot  consisting  of  one  long  syllable  followed 
by  two  short  ("*'*')  a  '  dactyle  '  or  a  finger,  with  allusion 
to  the  long  first  joint  of  the  finger,  and  the  two  shorter 
which  follow,  whoever  he  may  have  been,  and  some  one  was 
the  first  to  do  it,  must  be  allowed  to  have  brought  a  certain 
amount  of  imagination  into  a  study  so  alien  to  it  as  prosody 
very  well  might  appear. 

He  did  the  same  in  another  not  very  poetical  region  who 
invented  the  Latin  law-term,  *  stellionatus.'  The  word 
includes  all  such  legally  punishable  acts  of  swindling  or 
injurious  fraud  committed  on  the  property  of  another  as 
are  not  specified  in  any  more  precise  enactment;  being 
drawn  and  derived  from  a  practice  attributed,  I  suppose 
without  any  foundation,  to  the  lizard  or  *  stellio  '  we  spoke 
of  just  now.  Having  cast  its  winter  skin,  it  is  reported  to 
swallow  it  at  once,  and  this  out  of  a  malignant  grudge  lest 
any  should  profit  by  that  which,  if  not  now,  was  of  old 
accounted  a  specific  in  certain  diseases.  The  term  was  then 
transferred  to  any  malicious  wrong  whatever  done  by  one 
person  to  another. 

In  other  regions  it  was  only  to  be  expected  that  we  should 
find  poetry.  Thus  it  is  nothing  strange  that  architecture, 
which  has  been  called  frozen  music,  and  which  is  poetry 
embodied  in  material  forms,  should  have  a  language  of  its 

46 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

own^  not  dry  nor  hard,,  not  of  the  mere  intellect  alone,  but 
one  in  the  forming  of  which  it  is  evident  that  the  imaginative 
faculties  were  at  work.  To  take  only  one  example — this, 
however,  from  Gothic  art,  which  naturally  yields  the  most 
remarkable — what  exquisite  poetry  in  the  name  of  *  the  rose- 
window,'  or  better  still,  '  the  rose,'  given  to  the  rich  circular 
aperture  of  stained  glass,  with  its  leaf-like  compartments, 
in  the  transepts  of  a  Gothic  cathedral !  Here  indeed  we 
may  note  an  exception  from  that  which  usually  finds  place; 
for  usually  art  borrows  beauty  from  nature,  and  very 
faintly,  if  at  all,  reflects  back  beauty  upon  her.  In  this 
present  instance,  however,  art  is  so  beautiful,  has  reached 
so  glorious  and  perfect  a  development,  that  if  the  associ- 
ations which  the  rose  supplies  lend  to  that  window  some 
hues  of  beauty  and  a  glory  which  otherwise  it  would  not 
have,  the  latter  abundantly  repays  the  obligation;  and  even 
the  rose  itself  may  become  lovelier  still,  associated  with 
those  shapes  of  grace,  those  rich  gorgeous  tints,  and  all 
the  religious  symbolism  of  that  in  art  which  has  borrowed 
and  bears  its  name.  After  this  it  were  little  to  note  the 
imagination,  although  that  was  most  real,  which  dictated 
the  term  '  flamboyant '  to  express  the  wavy  flame-like  out- 
line, which,  at  a  particular  period  of  art^  the  tracery  in  the 
Gothic  window  assumed. 

*  Gottesacker  '  (or  God's  field)  is  the  German  name  for 
a  burial-ground,  and  once  was  our  own,  though  we  unfor- 
tunately have  nearly,  if  not  quite,  let  it  go.  What  a  hope 
full  of  immortality. does  this  little  word  proclaim!  how  rich 
is  it  in  all  the  highest  elements  of  poetry,  and  of  poetry  in 
its  noblest  alliance,  that  is,  in  its  alliance  with  faith — able 
as  it  is  to  cause  all  loathsome  images  of  death  and  decay 
to  disappear,  not  denying  them,  but  suspending,  losing, 
absorbing  them  in  the  sublimer  thought  of  the  victory  over 
death,  of  that  harvest  of  life  which  God  shall  one  day  so 

47 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

gloriously  reap  even  there  where  now  seems  the  very 
triumphing  place  of  death.  Many  will  not  need  to  be 
reminded  how  fine  a  poem  in  Longfellow's  hands  unfolds 
itself  out  of  this  word. 

Lastly  let  me  note  the  pathos  of  poetry  which  lies  often 
in  the  mere  tracing  of  the  succession  of  changes  in  meaning 
which  certain  words  have  undergone.  Thus  '  elend  '  in  Ger- 
man, a  beautiful  word,  now  signifies  wretchedness,  but  at 
first  it  signified  exile  or  banishment.  The  sense  of  this 
separation  from  the  native  land  and  from  all  home  delights, 
as  being  the  woe  of  all  woes,  the  crown  of  all  sorrows, 
little  by  little  so  penetrated  the  word,  that  what  at  first 
expressed  only  one  form  of  misery,  has  ended  by  signify- 
ing all.  It  is  not  a  little  notable,  as  showing  the  same  feel- 
ing elsewhere  at  work,  that  '  essil '  (=  exilium)  in  old 
French  signified,  not  only  banishment,  but  ruin,  destruction, 
misery.  In  the  same  manner  vooTt/tos;  meaning  at  first 
no  more  than  having  to  do  with  a  return,  comes  in  the  end 
to  signify  almost  anything  which  is  favourable  and 
auspicious. 

Let  us  then  acknowledge  man  a  born  poet;  if  not  every 
man  himself  a  *  maker,'  yet  every  one  able  to  rej  oice  in 
what  others  have  made,  adopting  it  freely,  moving  gladly 
in  it  as  his  own  most  congenial  element  and  sphere.  For 
indeed,  as  man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  as  little  is  he 
content  to  find  in  language  merely  the  instrument  which 
shall  enable  him  to  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain,  or  otherwise 
make  provision  for  the  lower  necessities  of  his  animal  life. 
He  demands  to  find  in  it  as  well  what  shall  stand  in  a  real 
relation  and  correspondence  to  the  higher  faculties  of  his 
being,  shall  feed,  nourish,  and  sustain  these,  shall  stir  him 
with  images  of  beauty  and  suggestions  of  greatness.  Neither 
here  nor  anywhere  else  could  he  become  the  mere  utilitarian, 
even  if  he  would.     Despite  his  utmost  efforts,  were  he  so 

48 


ON     THE     POETRY     IN     WORDS 

far  at  enmity  with  his  own  good  as  to  put  them  forth,  he 
could  not  succeed  in  exhausting  his  language  of  the  poet- 
ical element  with  which  it  is  penetrated  through  and 
through;  he  could  not  succeed  in  stripping  it  of  blossom, 
flower,  and  fruit,  and  leaving  it  nothing  but  a  bare  and 
naked  stem.  He  may  fancy  for  a  moment  that  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  this ;  but  it  will  only  need  for  him  to  become 
a  little  better  philologer,  to  go  a  little  deeper  into  the  story 
of  the  words  which  he  is  using,  and  he  will  discover  that  he 
is  as  remote  as  ever  from  such  an  unhappy  consummation, 
from  so  disastrous  a  success. 

For  ourselves,  let  us  desire  and  attempt  nothing  of  the 
kind.  Our  life  is  not  in  other  ways  so  full  of  imagination 
and  poetry  that  we  need  give  any  diligence  to  empty  it 
of  that  which  it  may  possess  of  these.  It  will  always  have 
for  us  all  enough  of  dull  and  prosaic  and  commonplace. 
What  profit  can  there  be  in  seeking  to  extend  the  region  of 
these  .^  Profit  there  will  be  none,  but  on  the  contrary  infi- 
nite loss.  It  is  stagnant  waters  which  corrupt  themselves; 
not  those  in  agitation  and  on  which  the  winds  are  freely 
blowing.  Words  of  passion  and  imagination  are,  as  one  so 
grandly  called  them  of  old,  'winds  of  the  soul'  («/^v;(^s 
avefjioi),  to  keep  it  in  healthful  motion  and  agitation,  to  lift 
it  upward  and  to  drive  it  onward,  to  preserve  it  from  that 
unwholesome  stagnation  which  constitutes  the  fatal  pre- 
paredness for  so  many  other  and  worse  evils. 


49 


LECTURE      3 

On  the  Morality  in  Words 

Is  man  of  a  divine  birth  and  of  the  stock  of  heaven? 
coming  from  God,  and;,  when  he  fulfils  the  law  of  his  being, 
and  the  intention  of  his  creation,  returning  to  him  again? 
We  need  no  more  than  the  words  he  speaks  to  prove  it;  so 
much  is  there  in  them  which  could  never  have  existed  on  any 
other  supposition.  How  else  could  all  those  words  which 
testify  of  his  relation  to  God,  and  of  his  consciousness  of 
this  relation,  and  which  ground  themselves  thereon,  have 
found  their  way  into  his  language,  being  as  that  is  the  veri- 
table transcript  of  his  innermost  life,  the  genuine  utter- 
ance of  the  faith  and  hope  that  are  in  him  ?  In  what  other 
way  can  we  explain  that  vast  and  preponderating  weight 
thrown  into  the  scale  of  goodness  and  truth,  which,  despite 
of  all  in  the  other  scale,  we  must  thankfully  acknowledge 
that  his  language  never  is  without?  How  else  shall  we 
account  for  that  sympathy  with  the  right,  that  testimony 
against  the  wrong,  which,  despite  of  all  aberrations  and 
perversions,  is  yet  the  prevailing  ground-tone  of  all? 

But  has  man  fallen,  and  deeply  fallen,  from  the  heights 
of  his  original  creation?  We  need  no  more  than  his  lan- 
guage to  prove  it.  Like  everything  else  about  him,  it  bears 
at  once  the  stamp  of  his  greatness  and  of  his  degradation, 
of  his  glory  and  of  his  shame.  What  dark  and  sombre 
threads  he  must  have  woven  into  the  tissue  of  his  life, 
before  we  could  trace  those  threads  of  darkness  which  run 
through  the  tissue  of  his  language !  What  facts  of  wicked- 
ness and  woe  must  have  existed  in  the  one,  ere  such  words 
could  exist  to  designate  these  as  are  found  in  the  other! 

50 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

There  have  never  wanted  those  who  would  make  light  of 
the  moral  hurts  which  man  has  inflicted  on  himself^  of  the 
sickness  with  which  he  is  sick;  who  would  persuade  them- 
selves and  others  that  moralists  and  divines,  if  they  have 
not  quite  invented,  have  yet  enormously  exaggerated,  these. 
But  are  statements  of  the  depth  of  his  fall,  the  malignity 
of  the  disease  with  which  he  is  sick,  found  only  in  Scripture 
and  in  sermons  ?  Are  those  who  bring  forward  these  state- 
ments libellers  of  human  nature?  Or  are  not  mournful 
corroborations  of  the  truth  of  these  assertions  imprinted 
deeply  upon  every  province  of  man's  natural  and  spiritual 
life,  and  on  none  more  deeply  than  on  his  language?  It 
needs  but  to  open  a  dictionary,  and  to  cast  our  eye  thought- 
fully down  a  few  columns,  and  we  shall  find  abundant 
confirmation  of  this  sadder  and  sterner  estimate  of  man's 
moral  and  spiritual  condition.  How  else  shall  we  explain 
this  long  catalogue  of  words,  having  all  to  do  with  sin  or 
with  sorrow,  or  with  both?  How  came  they  there?  We 
may  be  quite  sure  that  they  were  not  invented  without  being 
needed,  and  they  have  each  a  correlative  in  the  world  of 
realities.  I  open  the  first  letter  of  the  alphabet;  what  means 
this  '  Ah,'  this  'Alas,'  these  deep  and  long-drawn  sighs 
of  humanity,  which  at  once  encounter  me  there  ?  And  then 
presently  there  meet  me  such  words  as  these,  *  Affliction,' 
'  Agony,'  '  Anguish,'  '  Assassin,'  '  Atheist,'  *  Avarice,'  and 
a  hundred  more — words,  you  will  observe,  not  laid  up  in 
the  recesses  of  the  language,  to  be  drawn  forth  on  rare 
occasions,  but  many  of  them  such  as  must  be  continually 
on  the  lips  of  men.  And  indeed,  in  the  matter  of  abundance, 
it  is  sad  to  note  how  much  richer  our  vocabularies  are  in 
words  that  set  forth  sins,  than  in  those  that  set  forth  graces. 
When  St.  Paul  (Gal.  5:19-23)  would  range  these  over 
against  those,  *  the  works  of  the  flesh  '  against  *  the  fruit 
of  the   Spirit,'   those  are   seventeen,  these  only  nine;   and 

51 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

where  do  we  find  in  Scripture  such  lists  of  graces,  as  we  do 
at  2  Tim.  3:  2,  Rom.  1 :  29-31,  of  their  contraries?  ^'^ 

Nor  can  I  help  noting,  in  the  oversight  and  muster  from 
this  point  of  view  of  the  words  which  constitute  a  language, 
the  manner  in  which  its  utmost  resources  have  been  taxed 
to  express  the  infinite  varieties,  now  of  human  suffering, 
now  of  human  sin.  Thus,  what  a  fearful  thing  is  it  that 
any  language  should  possess  a  word  to  express  the  pleasure 
which  men  feel  at  the  calamities  of  others;  for  the  exist- 
ence of  the  word  bears  testimony  to  the  existence  of  the 
thing.  And  yet  such  in  more  languages  than  one  may  be 
found.^*  Nor  are  there  wanting,  I  suppose,  in  any  lan- 
guage, words  which  are  the  mournful  record  of  the  strange 
wickednesses  which  the  genius  of  man,  so  fertile  in  evil,  has 
invented.  What  whole  processes  of  cruelty  are  sometimes 
wrapped  up  in  a  single  word !  Thus  I  have  not  travelled 
down  the  first  column  of  an  Italian  dictionary  before  I 
light  upon  the  verb  *  abbacinare,'  meaning  to  deprive  of 
sight  by  holding  a  red-hot  metal  basin  close  to  the  eye- 
balls. Travelling  a  little  further  in  a  Greek  lexicon,  I 
should  reach  dKpwTT/pta^ctv,  to  mutilate  by  cutting  off  all  the 
extremities,  as  hands,  feet,  nose,  ears;  or  take  our  English 
*  to  ganch.'  And  our  dictionaries,  while  they  tell  us  much, 
cannot  tell  us  all.  How  shamefully  rich  is  everywhere  the 
language  of  the  vulgar  in  words  and  phrases  which,  seldom 
allowed  to  find  their  way  into  books,  yet  live  as  a  sinful 
oral  tradition  on  the  lips  of  men,  for  the  setting  forth  of 
things  unholy  and  impure.  And  of  these  words,  as  no  less 
of  those  dealing  with  the  kindred  sins  of  revelling  and 
excess,  how  many  set  the  evil  forth  with  an  evident  sympa- 
thy and  approbation,  and  as  themselves  taking  part  with 
the  sin  against  Him  who  has  forbidden  it  under  pain  of  his 
highest  displeasure.  How  much  ability,  how  much  wit,  yes, 
and  how  much  imagination  must  have  stood  in  the  service 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

of  sin,  before  it  could  possess  a  nomenclature  so  rich,  so 
varied,  and  often  so  Heaven-defying,  as  that  which  it  actu- 
ally owns. 

Then  further  I  would  bid  you  to  note  the  many  words 
which  men  have  dragged  downward  with  themselves,  and 
made  more  or  less  partakers  of  their  own  fall.  Having 
once  an  honourable  meaning,  they  have  yet  with  the  dete- 
rioration and  degeneration  of  those  that  used  them,  or  of 
those  about  whom  they  were  used,  deteriorated  and  degener- 
ated too.  How  many,  harmless  once,  have  assumed  a  harm- 
ful as  their  secondary  meaning;  how  many  worthy  have 
acquired  an  unworthy.  Thus  *  knave  '  meant  once  no  more 
than  lad  (nor  does  '  Knabe  '  now  in  German  mean  more)  ; 

*  villain  '  than  peasant ;  a  '  boor  '  was  a  farmer,  a  *  varlet ' 
a  serving-man,  which  meaning  still  survives  in  *  valet,'  the 
other  form  of  this  word,^^  a  *  menial '  was  one  of  the  house- 
hold ;  a  *  paramour  '  was  a  lover,  an  honourable  one  it  might 
be ;  a  '  leman  '  in  like  manner  was  simply  a  lover,  and  might 
be  used  of  either  sex  in  a  good  sense ;  a  *  beldam '  was  a 
fair  lady,  and  is  used  in  this  sense  by  Spenser ;  ^^  a  *  minion  ' 
was  a  favourite  (man  in  Sylvester  is  *  God's  dearest 
minion*)  ;  a  *  pedant '  in  the  Italian  from  which  we  bor- 
rowed the  word,  and  for  a  while  too  with  ourselves,  was 
simply  a  teacher  of  young  children,  a  tutor ;  a  *  proser  ' 
was  one  who  wrote  in  prose ;  an  '  adventurer  '  one  who  set 
before  himself  perilous,  but  very  often  noble  ventures,  what 
the  Germans  call  a  '  Gliicksritter  ' ;  a  '  swindler,'  in  the 
German,  from  which  we  got  it,  one  who  entered  into  danger- 
ous mercantile  speculations,  without  implying  that  this  was 
done  with  any  intention  to  defraud  others.  Christ,  accord- 
ing to  Bishop  Hall,  was  the  *  ringleader  '  of  our  salvation. 

*  Time-server  '  two  hundred  years  ago  quite  as  often  desig- 
nated one   in    an   honourable  as   in   a  dishonourable   sense 

*  serving  the  time.'  ^^     '  Conceits  *  had  once  nothing  con- 

53 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

ceited  in  them.  An  '  officious  '  man  was  one  prompt  in  offices 
of  kindness,  and  not,  as  now,  an  uninvited  meddler  in  things 
that  concern  him  not;  something  indeed  of  the  older  mean- 
ing still  survives  in  the  diplomatic  use  of  the  word. 

'  Demure  '  conveyed  no  hint,  as  it  does  now,  of  an  over- 
doing of  the  outward  demonstrations  of  modesty ;  a  *  leer  ' 
meant  once  a  countenance  simply,  with  nothing  amiss  in 
it  {Piers  Plowman,  Glossary,  s.  v.  lere).  '  Daft '  was  mild, 
meek ;  *  orgies  '  were  religious  ceremonies ;  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin speaks  of  herself  in  an  early  poem  as  '  God's  wench.' 
In  '  crafty  '  and  '  cunning  '  no  crooked  wisdom  was  implied, 
but  only  knowledge  and  skill ;  '  craft,'  indeed,  still  retains 
very  often  its  more  honourable  use,  a  man's  '  craft '  being 
his  skill,  and  then  the  trade  in  which  he  is  skilled.  '  Artful ' 
was  skilful,  and  not  tricky  as  now.^^  Could  the  Magdalen 
have  ever  bequeathed  us  *  maudlin '  in  its  present  con- 
temptuous application,  if  the  tears  of  penitential  sorrow 
had  been  held  in  due  honour  by  the  world?  '  Tinsel,'  the 
French  '  etincelle,'  meant  once  anything  that  sparkled  or 
glistened ;  thus,  '  cloth  of  tinsel  *  would  be  cloth  inwrought 
with  silver  and  gold ;  but  the  sad  experience  that  '  all  is 
not  gold  that  glitters,'  that  much  showing  fair  to  the  eye 
is  worthless  in  reality,  has  caused  that  by  '  tinsel,'  literal 
or  figurative,  we  ever  mean  now  that  which  has  no  realities 
of  sterling  worth  underljang  the  specious  shows  which  it 
makes.  '  Specious  '  itself,  let  me  note,  meant  beautiful  at 
one  time,  and  not,  as  now,  presenting  a  deceitful  appearance 
of  beauty.  *  Tawdry,'  an  epithet  applied  once  to  lace  or 
other  finery  bought  at  the  fair  of  St.  Awdrey  or  St.  Ethel- 
dreda,  has  run  through  the  same  course :  it  at  one  time  con- 
veyed no  suggestion  of  mean  finery  or  shabby  splendour, 
as  now  it  does.  *  Voluble  '  was  an  epithet  which  had  nothing 
of  slight  in  it,  but  meant  what '  fluent '  means  now ;  '  dapper  ' 
was   what  in  German   *  tapfer  '  is;  not  so  much  neat  and 

54 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

spruce  as  brave  and  bold ;  '  plausible  '  was  worthy  of  ap- 
plause ;  ^^  '  pert '  is  now  brisk  and  lively,  but  with  a  very 
distinct  subaudition,  which  once  it  had  not,  of  sauciness 
as  well ;  *  lewd  '  meant  no  more  than  unlearned,  as  the  lay 
or  common  people  might  be  supposed  to  be.  '  To  carp  * 
is  in  Chaucer's  language  no  more  than  to  converse ;  *  to 
mouth '  in  Piers  Plowman  is  simply  to  speak ;  *  to  garble  ' 
was  once  to  sift  and  pick  out  the  best ;  it  is  now  to  select  and 
put  forward  as  a  fair  specimen  the  worst. 

This  same  deterioration  through  use  may  be  traced  in 
the  verb  '  to  resent.'  Barrow  could  speak  of  the  good  man 
as  a  faithful  *  resenter  '  and  requiter  of  benefits,  of  the 
duty  of  testifying  an  affectionate  *  resentment '  of  our  obli- 
gations to  God.  But  the  memory  of  benefits  fades  from 
us  so  much  more  quickly  than  that  of  injuries;  we  remember 
and  revolve  in  our  minds  so  much  more  predominantly  the 
wrongs,  real  or  imaginary,  men  have  done  us,  than  the 
favours  we  owe  them,  that  *  resentment '  has  come  in  our 
modern  English  to  be  confined  exclusively  to  that  deep 
reflective  displeasure  which  men  entertain  against  those  that 
have  done,  or  whom  they  fancy  to  have  done,  them  a  wrong. 
And  this  explains  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  we  do  not  speak 
of  the  '  retaliation  '  of  injuries.  '  To  retaliate  '  signifies 
no  more  than  to  render  again  as  much  as  we  have  received; 
but  this  is  so  much  seldomer  practised  in  the  matter  of 
benefits  than  of  wrongs,  that  '  retaliation,'  though  not  wholly 
strange  in  this  worthier  sense,  has  yet,  when  so  employed, 
an  unusual  sound  in  our  ears.  '  To  retaliate  '  kindnesses 
is  a  language  which  would  not  now  be  intelligible  to  all. 
'  Animosity,'  as  originally  employed  in  that  later  Latin 
which  gave  it  birth,  was  spiritedness ;  men  would  speak  of 
the  *  animosity  '  or  fiery  courage  of  a  horse.  In  our  early 
English  it  meant  nothing  more ;  a  divine  of  the  seventeenth 
century  speaks  of  '  due  Christian  animosity.'     Activity  and 

o5 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

vigour  are  still  implied  in  the  word;  but  now  only  as  dis- 
played in  enmity  and  hate.  There  is  a  Spanish  proverb 
which  says,  '  One  foe  is  too  many;  a  hundred  friends  are 
too  few.'  The  proverb  and  the  course  which  this  word 
'  animosity  '  has  travelled  may  be  made  mutually  to  illus- 
trate one  another. 

How  mournful  a  witness  for  the  hard  and  unrighteous 
judgments  we  habitually  form  of  one  another  lies  in  the 
word  '  prejudice.'  It  is  itself  absolutely  neutral,  meaning 
no  more  than  a  judgment  formed  beforehand;  which  judg- 
ment may  be  favourable,  or  may  be  otherwise.  Yet  so  pre- 
dominantly do  we  form  harsh  unfavourable  judgments  of 
others  before  knowledge  and  experience,  that  a  '  prejudice,' 
or  judgment  before  knowledge  and  not  grounded  on  evi- 
dence, is  almost  always  taken  in  an  ill  sense;  '  prejudicial ' 
having  actually  acquired  mischievous  or  injurious  for  its 
secondary  meaning. 

As  these  words  bear  testimony  to  the  siii  of  man,  so 
others  to  his  infirinity,  to  the  limitation  of  human  faculties 
and  human  knowledge,  to  the  truth  of  the  proverb,  that 
'  to  err  is  human.'  Thus  *  to  retract '  means  properly  no 
more  than  to  handle  again,  to  reconsider.  And  yet,  so 
certain  are  we  to  find  in  a  subject  which  we  reconsider,  or 
handle  a  second  time,  that  which  was  at  first  rashly,  imper- 
fectly, inaccurately,  stated,  which  needs  therefore  to  be 
amended,  modified,  or  withdrawn,  that  *to  retract'  could  not 
tarry  long  in  its  primary  meaning  of  reconsidering;  but  has 
come  to  signify  to  withdraw.  Thus  the  greatest  Father  of  the 
Latin  Church,  wishing  toward  the  close  of  his  life  to  amend 
whatever  he  might  then  perceive  in  his  various  published 
works  incautiously  or  incorrectly  stated,  gave  to  the  book 
in  which  he  carried  out  this  intention  (for  authors  had  then 
no  such  opportunities  as  later  editions  afford  us  now),  this 
very  name  of  '  Retractations,'  being  literally  '  rehandlings,' 

56 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

but  in  f  act^  as  will  be  plain  to  any  one  turning  to  the  work^ 
withdrawings  of  various  statements  by  which  he  was  no 
longer  prepared  to  abide. 

But  urging,  as  I  just  now  did^  the  degeneration  of  words, 
I  should  seriously  err,  if  I  failed  to  remind  you  that  a  paral- 
lel process  of  purifying  and  ennobling  has  also  been  going 
forward,  most  of  all  through  the  influences  of  a  Divine  faith 
working  in  the  world.  This,  as  it  has  turned  men  from 
evil  to  good,  or  has  lifted  them  from  a  lower  earthly  good- 
ness to  a  higher  heavenly,  so  has  it  in  like  manner  elevated, 
purified,  and  ennobled  a  multitude  of  the  words  which  they 
employ,  until  these,  which  once  expressed  only  an  earthly 
good,  express  now  a  heavenly.  The  Gospel  of  Christ,  as 
it  is  the  redemption  of  man,  so  is  it  in  a  multitude  of  in- 
stances the  redemption  of  his  word,  freeing  it  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  that  it  should  no  longer  be  subject 
to  vanit3^,  nor  stand  any  more  in  the  service  of  sin  or  of  the 
world,  but  in  the  service  of  God  and  of  his  truth.  Thus 
the  Greek  had  a  word  for  '  humility  ' ;  but  for  him  this 
humility  meant — that  is,  with  rare  exceptions — meanness  of 
spirit.  He  who  brought  in  the  Christian  grace  of  humility, 
did  in  so  doing  rescue  the  term  which  expressed  it  for  nobler 
uses  and  a  far  higher  dignity  than  hitherto  it  had  attained. 
There  were  '  angels  '  before  heaven  had  been  opened,  but 
these  only  earthly  messengers ;  '  martyrs  '  also,  or  witnesses, 
but  these  not  unto  blood,  nor  yet  for  God's  highest  truth; 
*  apostles,'  but  sent  of  men ;  '  evangels,'  but  these  good 
tidings  of  this  world,  and  not  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven; 
'  advocates,'  but  not  '  with  the  Father.'  Paradise  was  a 
word  well  known  to  the  ancient  Persians;  but  it  was  for 
them  only  some  royal  park  or  garden  of  delights;  till  for 
the  Jew  it  was  exalted  to  signify  the  mysterious  abode  of 
our  first  parents ;  while  higher  honours  awaited  it  still,  when 
on  the  lips  of  the  Lord,  it  signified  the  blissful  waiting- 

57 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

place  of  faithful  departed  souls  (Luke  23:43);  yea,  the 
heavenly  blessedness  itself  (Rev.  2:7).  A  'regeneration/ 
or  palingenesy,  was  not  unknown  to  the  Greeks ;  they  would 
speak  of  the  earth's  '  regeneration '  in  spring-time,  of 
recollection  as  the  '  regeneration  '  of  knowledge ;  the  Jewish 
historian  could  describe  the  return  of  his  countrymen  from 
the  Babylonian  Captivity,  and  their  re-establishment  in  their 
own  land,  as  the  '  regeneration  '  of  the  Jewish  State.  But 
still  the  word,  whether  as  employed  by  Jew  or  Greek, 
was  a  long  way  off  from  that  honour  reserved  for  it  in  the 
Christian  dispensation — namely,  that  it  should  be  the  vehi- 
cle of  one  of  the  most  blessed  mysteries  of  the  faith. **^  And 
many  other  words  in  like  manner  there  are,  '  fetched  from 
the  very  dregs  of  paganism,'  as  Sanderson  has  it  (he 
instances  the  Latin  *  sacrament,'  the  Greek  *  mystery '), 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  deigned  to  employ  for  the  setting 
forth  of  the  glorious  facts  of  our  redemption;  and,  revers- 
ing the  impious  deed  of  Belshazzar,  who  profaned  the 
sacred  vessels  of  God's  house  to  sinful  and  idolatrous  uses 
(Dan.  5:  2),  has  consecrated  the  very  idol-vessels  by  Baby- 
lon to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  contemplate  some  of  the  attesta- 
tions to  God's  truth,  and  then  some  of  the  playings  into  the 
hands  of  the  devil's  falsehood,  which  lurk  in  words.  And 
first,  the  attestations  to  God's  truth,  the  fallings  in  of  our 
words  with  his  unchangeable  Word;  for  these,  as  the  true 
uses  of  the  word,  while  the  other  are  only  its  abuses,  have  a 
prior  claim  to  be  considered. 

Thus,  some  modern  '  false  prophets,'  willing  to  explain 
away  all  such  phenomena  of  the  world  around  us  as  declare 
man  to  be  a  sinner,  and  lying  under  the  consequences  of  sin, 
would  fain  have  us  to  believe  that  pain  is  only  a  subordinate 
kind  of  pleasure,  or,  at  worst,  a  sort  of  needful  hedge  and 
guardian  of  pleasure.     But  a  deeper  feeling  in  the  universal 

58 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

heart  of  man  bears  witness  to  quite  another  explanation  of 
the  existence  of  pain  in  the  present  economy  of  the  world — 
namely,  that  it  is  the  correlative  of  sin,  that  it  is  punish- 
ment; and  to  this  the  word  *  pain/  so  closely  connected  with 
*  poena/  bears  witness.  Pain  is  punishment ;  for  so  the  word, 
and  so  the  conscience  of  every  one  that  is  suffering  it, 
declares.  Some  will  not  hear  of  great  pestilences  being 
scourges  of  the  sins  of  men;  and  if  only  they  can  find  out 
the  immediate,  imagine  that  they  have  found  out  the  ulti- 
mate, causes  of  these ;  while  yet  they  have  only  to  speak  of  a 
'  plague  '  and  they  implicitly  avouch  the  very  truth  which 
they  have  set  themselves  to  deny ;  for  a  *  plague,'  what  is 
it  but  a  stroke;  so  called,  because  that  universal  conscience 
of  men  which  is  never  at  fault,  has  felt  and  in  this  way  con- 
fessed it  to  be  such?  For  here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases, 
that  proverb  stands  fast,  '  Vox  populi,  vox  Dei ' ;  and  may 
be  admitted  to  the  full;  that  is,  if  only  we  keep  in  mind 
that  this  '  people  '  is  not  the  populace  either  in  high  place 
or  in  low ;  and  this  '  voice  of  the  people  '  no  momentary 
outcry,  but  the  consenting  testimony  of  the  good  and  wise, 
of  those  neither  brutalized  by  ignorance,  nor  corrupted  by 
a  false  cultivation,  in  many  places  and  in  various  times. 

To  one  who  admits  the  truth  of  this  proverb  it  will  be 
nothing  strange  that  men  should  have  agreed  to  call  him  a 
'  miser '  or  miserable,  who  eagerly  scrapes  together  and 
painfully  hoards  the  mammon  of  this  world.  Here  too 
the  moral  instinct  lying  deep  in  all  hearts  has  borne  testi- 
mony to  the  tormenting  nature  of  this  vice,  to  the  gnawing 
pains  with  which  even  in  this  present  time  it  punishes  its 
votaries,  to  the  enmity  which  there  is  between  it  and  all  joy; 
and  the  man  who  enslaves  himself  to  his  money  is  proclaimed 
in  our  very  language  to  be  a  '  miser,'  or  miserable  man.^^ 

Other  words  bear  testimony  to  great  moral  truths.  St. 
James  has,  I  doubt  not,  been  often  charged  with  exaggera- 

59 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

tion  for  saying,  '  Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and 
yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all'  (2:  10).  The 
charge  is  an  unj  ust  one.  The  Romans  with  their  '  integ- 
ritas  '  said  as  much ;  we  too  say  the  same  who  have  adopted 
'  integrity  '  as  a  part  of  our  ethical  language.  For  what  is 
*  integrity  '  but  entireness ;  the  '  integrity  '  of  the  body  be- 
ing, as  Cicero  explains  it,  the  full  possession  and  the  perfect 
soimdness  of  all  its  members ;  and  moral  '  integrity,'  though 
it  cannot  be  predicated  so  absolutely  of  any  sinful  child  of 
Adam,  is  this  same  entireness  or  completeness  transferred 
to  things  higher.  *  Integrity  '  was  exactly  that  which  Herod 
had  not  attained,  when  at  the  Baptist's  bidding  he  '  did 
many  things  gladly  (Mark  6:20),  but  did  not  put  away 
his  brother's  wife;  whose  partial  obedience  therefore  prof- 
ited nothing;  he  had  dropped  one  link  in  the  golden  chain 
of  obedience,  and  as  a  consequence  the  whole  chain  fell  to 
the  ground. 

It  is  very  noticeable,  and  many  have  noticed  that  the 
Greek  word  signifying  wickedness  (Trovyjpia)  comes  of 
another  signifying  labour  (ttoj/os).  How  well  does  this 
agree  with  those  passages  in  Scripture  which  describe  sin- 
ners as  '  wearying  themselves  to  commit  iniquity,'  as  '  labour- 
ing in  the  very  fire  ' ;  *  the  martyrs  of  the  devil,'  as  South 
calls  them,  being  at  more  pains  to  go  to  hell  than  the  martyrs 
of  God  to  go  to  heaven.  '  St.  Chrysostom's  eloquence,' 
as  Bishop  Sanderson  has  observed,  *  enlarges  itself  and 
triumphs  in  this  argument  more  frequently  than  in  almost 
any  other;  and  he  clears  it  often  and  beyond  all  exception, 
both  by  Scripture  and  reason,  that  the  life  of  a  wicked  or 
worldly  man  is  a  very  drudgery,  infinitely  more  toilsome, 
vexatious,  and  unpleasant  than  a  godly  life  is.'  ^- 

How  deep  an  insight  into  the  failings  of  the  human 
heart  lies  at  the  root  of  many  words ;  and  if  only  we  would 
attend    to    them,    what    valuable    warnings    many    contain 

60 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

against  subtle  temptations  and  sins !  Thus,  all  of  us  have 
felt  the  temptation  of  seeking  to  please  others  by  an 
unmanly  assenting  to  their  opinion,  even  when  our  own 
independent  convictions  did  not  agree  with  theirs.  The 
existence  of  such  a  temptation,  and  the  fact  that  too  many 
yield  to  it,  are  both  declared  in  the  Latin  for  a  flatterer — 
*  assentator  ' — that  is,  *  an  assenter  ' ;  one  who  has  not  cour- 
age to  say  No,  when  a  Yes  is  expected  from  him;  and  quite 
independently  of  the  Latin,  the  German,  in  its  contemptuous 
and  precisely  equivalent  use  of  '  Jaherr,'  a  '  yea-Lord,' 
warns  us  in  like  manner  against  all  such  unmanly  compli- 
ances. Let  me  note  that  we  also  once  possessed  '  assenta- 
tion '  in  the  sense  of  unworthy  flattering  lip-assent ;  the 
last  example  of  it  in  our  dictionaries  is  from  Bishop  Hall: 
'  It  is  a  fearful  presage  of  ruin  when  the  prophets  conspire 
in  assentation  ';  but  it  lived  on  to  a  far  later  day,  being 
found  and  exactly  in  the  same  sense  in  Lord  Chesterfield's 
Letters  to  his  son;  he  there  speaks  of  '  abject  flattery  and 
indiscriminate  assentation.'  *^  The  word  is  well  worthy  to 
be  revived. 

Again,  how  well  it  is  to  have  that  spirit  of  depreciation, 
that  eagerness  to  find  spots  and  stains  in  the  characters 
of  the  noblest  and  the  best,  who  would  otherwise  oppress 
and  rebuke  us  with  a  goodness  and  a  greatness  so  immensely 
superior  to  our  own, — met  and  checked  by  a  word  at  once 
so  expressive,  and  so  little  pleasant  to  take  home  to  our- 
selves, as  the  French  '  denigreur,'  a  '  blackener.'  This  also 
has  fallen  out  of  use;  which  is  a  pity,  seeing  that  the  race 
which  it  designates  is  so  far  from  being  extinct.  Full  too 
of  instruction  and  warning  is  our  present  employment  of 
''  libertine.'  A  '  libertine,'  in  earlier  use,  was  a  speculative 
free-thinker  in  matters  of  religion  and  in  the  theory  of 
morals.  But  as  by  a  process  which  is  seldom  missed  free- 
thinking  does  and  will  end  in  fvee-acting,  he  who  has  cast 

61 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

off  one  yoke  also  casting  off  the  other,  so  a  '  libertine  '  came 
in  two  or  three  generations  to  signify  a  profligate,  espe- 
cially in  relation  to  women,  a  licentious  and  debauched 
person. 

Look  a  little  closely  at  the  word  *  passion.'  We  sometimes 
regard  a  '  passionate  '  man  as  a  man  of  strong  will,  and 
of  real,  though  ungoverned,  energy.  But  '  passion  '  teaches 
us  quite  another  lesson;  for  it,  as  a  very  solemn  use  of  it 
declares,  means  properly  '  suffering  ' ;  and  a  '  passionate  ' 
man  is  not  one  who  is  doing  something,  but  one  suffering 
something  to  be  done  to  him.  When  then  a  man  or  child 
is  '  in  a  passion,'  this  is  no  outcoming  in  him  of  a  strong 
will,  of  a  real  energy,  but  the  proof  rather  that,  for  the 
time  at  least,  he  is  altogether  wanting  in  these;  he  is  suffer- 
ing, not  doing;  suffering  his  anger,  or  whatever  evil  temper 
it  may  be,  to  lord  over  him  without  control.  Let  no  one  then 
think  of  '  passion  '  as  a  sign  of  strength.  One  might  with 
as  much  justice  conclude  a  man  strong  because  he  was  often 
well  beaten ;  this  would  prove  that  a  strong  man  was  putting 
forth  his  strength  on  him,  but  certainly  not  that  he  was 
himself  strong.  The  same  sense  of  *  passion  '  and  feeble- 
ness going  together,  of  the  first  as  the  outcome  of  the  sec- 
ond, lies,  I  may  remark  by  the  way,  in  the  twofold  use  of 
'  impotens  '  in  the  Latin,  which  meaning  first  weak,  means 
then  violent,  and  then  weak  and  violent  together.  For  a 
long  time  *  impotent '  and  '  impotence  '  in  English  embodied 
the  same  twofold  meaning. 

Or  meditate  on  the  use  of  '  humanitas,'  and  the  use  (in 
Scotland  at  least)  of  the  '  humanities,'  to  designate  those 
studies  which  are  esteemed  the  fittest  for  training  the  true 
humanity  in  every  man.  We  have  happily  overlived  in  Eng- 
land the  time  when  it  was  still  in  debate  among  us  whether 
education  is  a  good  thing  for  every  living  soul  or  not;  the 
only  question  which  now  seriously  divides  Englishmen  being, 

62 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

in  what  manner  that  mental  and  moral  training,  which  is 
society's  debt  to  each  one  of  its  members,  may  be  most 
effectually  imparted  to  him.  Were  it  not  so,  were  there 
any  still  found  to  affirm  that  it  was  good  for  any  man  to 
be  left  with  powers  not  called  out  and  faculties  untrained, 
we  might  appeal  to  this  word  *  humanitas,'  and  the  use  to 
which  the  Roman  put  it,  in  proof  that  he  at  least  was  not  of 
this  mind.  By  '  humanitas  '  he  intended  the  fullest  and 
most  harmonious  developmment  of  all  the  truly  human  fac- 
ulties and  powers.  Then,  and  then  only,  man  was  truly 
man,  when  he  received  this;  in  so  far  as  he  did  not  receive 
this,  his  'humanity'  was  maimed  and  imperfect;  he  fell 
short  of  his  ideal,  of  that  which  he  was  created  to  be. 

In  our  use  of  *  talents,'  as  when  we  say  '  a  man  of 
talents,'  there  is  a  clear  recognition  of  the  responsibilities 
which  go  along  with  the  possession  of  intellectual  gifts  and 
endowments,  whatever  these  may  be.  We  owe  our  later  use 
of  'talent'  to  the  parable  (Matt.  25:14),  in  which  more 
or  fewer  of  these  are  committed  to  the  several  servants, 
that  they  may  trade  with  them  in  their  master's  absence, 
and  give  account  of  their  employment  at  his  return.  Men 
may  choose  to  forget  the  ends  for  which  their  '  talents  ' 
were  given  them;  they  may  count  them  merely  something 
which  they  have  gotten;  **  they  may  turn  them  to  selfish 
ends ;  they  may  glorify  themselves  in  them,  instead  of  glori- 
fying the  Giver;  they  may  practically  deny  that  they  were 
given  at  all ;  yet  in  this  word,  till  they  can  rid  their  vocabu- 
lary of  it,  abides  a  continual  memento  that  they  were  so 
given,  or  rather  lent,  and  that  each  man  shall  have  to  render 
an  account  of  their  use. 

Again,  in  '  oblige  '  and  '  obligation,'  as  when  we  speak  of 
'  being  obliged,'  or  of  having  '  received  an  obligation,'  a 
moral  truth  is  asserted — this  namely,  that  having  received  a 
benefit  or  a  favour  at  the  hands  of  another,  we  are  thereby 

63 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

morally  bound  to  show  ourselves  grateful  for  the  same.  We 
cannot  be  ungrateful  without  denying  not  merely  a  moral 
truth,  but  one  incorporated  in  the  very  language  which  we 
employ.  Thus  South,  in  a  sermon,  Of  the  odious  Sin  of 
Ingratitude,  has  well  asked,  *  If  the  conferring  of  a  kind- 
ness did  not  bijid  the  person  upon  whom  it  was  conferred 
to  the  returns  of  gratitude,  why,  in  the  universal  dialect  of 
the  world,  are  kindnesses  called  obligations?  *  ^^ 

Once  more — the  habit  of  calling  a  woman's  chastity  her 

*  virtue  '  is  significant.  I  will  not  deny  that  it  may  spring 
in  part  from  a  tendency  which  often  meets  us  in  language, 
to  narrow  the  whole  circle  of  virtues  to  some  one  upon  which 
peculiar  stress  is  laid ;  *®  but  still,  in  selecting  this  peculiar 
one  as  the  '  virtue  '  of  woman,  there  speaks  out  a  true  sense 
that  this  is  indeed  for  her  the  citadel  of  the  whole  moral 
being,  the  overthrow  of  which  is  the  overthrow  of  all;  that 
it  is  the  keystone  of  the  arch,  which  being  withdrawn,  the 
whole  collapses  and  falls. 

Or  consider  all  which  is  witnessed  for  us  in  '  kind.'  We 
speak  of  a  '  kind  '  person,  and  we  speak  of  man-*  kind,'  and 
perhaps,  if  we  think  about  the  matter  at  all,  fancy  that  we 
are  using  quite  different  words,  or  the  same  words  in  senses 
quite  unconnected.  But  they  are  connected,  and  by  closest 
bonds ;  a  '  kind  '  person  is  one  who  acknowledges  his  kin- 
ship with  other  men,  and  acts  upon  it ;  confesses  that  he  owes 
to  them,  as  of  one  blood  with  himself,  the  debt  of  love.*^ 
Beautiful  before,  how  much  more  beautiful  do  '  kind  '  and 

*  kindness  '  appear,  when  we  apprehend  the  root  out  of 
which  they  grow,  and  the  truth  which  they  embody;  that 
they  are  the  acknowledgment  in  loving  deeds  of  our  kin- 
ship with  our  brethren;  of  the  relationship  which  exists 
between  all  the  members  of  the  human  family,  and  of  the 
obligations  growing  out  of  the  same. 

But  I  observed  just  now  that  there  are  also  words  bear- 

64 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

ing  on  them  the  slime  of  the  serpent's  trail;  uses,  too,  of 
words  which  imply  moral  perversity — not  upon  their  parts 
who  employ  them  now  in  their  acquired  senses,  but  on  theirs 
from  whom  little  by  little  they  received  their  deflection,  and 
were  warped  from  their  original  rectitude.  A  '  prude  '  is 
now  a  woman  with  an  over-done  affectation  of  a  modesty 
which  she  does  not  really  feel,  and  betraying  the  absence 
of  the  substance  by  this  over-preciseness  and  niceness  about 
the  shadow.  Goodness  must  have  gone  strangely  out  of 
fashion,  the  corruption  of  manners  must  have  been  pro- 
found,   before    matters    could    have    come    to    this    point. 

*  Prude,'  a  French  word,  means  properly  virtuous  or  pru- 
dent. But  where  morals  are  greatly  and  generally  relaxed, 
virtue  is  treated  as  hypocrisy;  and  thus,  in  a  dissolute 
age,  ,and   one  incredulous   of   any  inward   purity,  by   the 

*  prude '  or  virtuous  woman  is  intended  a  sort  of  female 
Tartuffe,  affecting  a  virtue  which  it  is  taken  for  granted 
none  can  really  possess;  and  the  word  abides,  a  proof  of 
the  world's  disbelief  in  the  realities  of  goodness,  of  its 
resolution  to  treat  them  as  hypocrisies  and  deceits. 

Again,   why   should   *  simple '   be   used   slightingly,    and 

*  simpleton  '  more  slightingly  still  ?  The  '  simple  '  is  one 
properly  of  a  single  fold ;  a  Nathanael,  whom  as  such  Christ 
honoured  to  the  highest  (John  1 :  47) ;  and,  indeed,  what 
honour  can  be  higher  than  to  have  nothing  double  about  us, 
to  be  without  duplicities  or  folds  .^  Even  the  world,  which 
despises  *  simplicity,'  does  not  profess  to  admire  '  duplicity,' 
or  double-foldedness.  But  inasmuch  as  it  is  felt  that  a 
man  without  these  folds  will  in  a  world  like  ours  make  him- 
self a  prey,  and  as  most  men,  if  obliged  to  choose  between 
deceiving  and  being  deceived,  would  choose  the  former, 
it  has  come  to  pass  that  '  simple,'  which  in  a  kingdom  of 
righteousness  would  be  a  word  of  highest  honour,  carries 
with  it  in  this  world  of  ours  something  of  contempt.*®     Nor 

65 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

can  we  help  noting  anotlier  involuntary  testimony  borne 
by  human  language  to  human  sin.  I  mean  this, — that  an 
idiot,  or  one  otherwise  deficient  in  intellect,  is  called  an 
'  innocent,'  or  one  who  does  no  hurt;  this  use  of  '  innocent ' 
assuming  that  to  do  hurt  and  harm  is  the  chief  employment 
to  which  men  turn  their  intellectual  powers,  that,  where  they 
are  wise,  they  are  oftenest  wise  to  do  evil. 

Nor  are  these  isolated  examples  of  the  contemptuous  use 
which  words  expressive  of  goodness  gradually  acquire. 
Such  meet  us  on  every  side.  Our  '  silly  '  is  the  Old-English 
'  saelig,'  or  blessed.  We  see  it  in  a  transition  state  in  our 
early  poets,  with  whom  *  silly '  is  an  affectionate  epithet 
which  sheep  obtain  for  their  harmlessness.  One  among 
our  earliest  calls  the  new-born  Lord  of  Glory  Himself,  '  this 
harmless  silly  babe.'  But  *  silly  '  has  travelled  on  the«  same 
lines  as  *  simple,'  '  innocent,'  and  so  many  other  words. 
The  same  moral  phenomenon  repeats  itself  continually. 
Thus  'sheepish'  in  the  Ormulum  is  an  epithet  of  honour: 
it  is  used  of  one  who  has  the  mind  of  Him  who  was  led  as 
a  sheep  to  the  slaughter.  At  the  first  promulgation  of  the 
Christian  faith,  while  the  name  of  its  Divine  Founder  was 
still  strange  to  the  ears  of  the  heathen,  they  were  wont, 
some  in  ignorance,  but  more  of  malice,  slightly  to  mispro- 
nounce this  name,  turning  '  Christus  '  into  '  Chrestus  ' — ^that 
is,  the  benevolent  or  benign.  That  these  last  meant  no  hon- 
our thereb}^  to  the  Lord  of  Life,  but  the  contrary,  is  certain ; 
this  word,  like  '  silly,'  '  innocent,'  *  simple,'  having  already 
contracted  a  slight  tinge  of  contempt,  without  which  there 
would  have  been  no  inducement  to  fasten  it  on  the  Saviour. 
The  French  have  their  '  bonhomie  '  with  the  same  undertone 
of  contempt,  the  Greeks  their  ev-^Oita.  Lady  Shiel  tells 
us  of  the  modern  Persians,  *  They  have  odd  names  for 
describing  the  moral  qualities ;  "  Sedakat  "  means  sincerity, 
honesty,  candour;  but  when  a  man  is  said  to  be  possessed 

66 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

of  "  sedakat/'  the  meaning  is  that  he  is  a  credulous,  con- 
temptible simpleton.'  *^  It  is  to  the  honour  of  the  Latin 
tongue,  and  very  characteristic  of  the  best  aspects  of  Roman 
life,  that  '  simplex  '  and  *  simplicitas  '  never  acquired  this 
abusive  signification. 

Again,  how  prone  are  we  all  to  ascribe  to  chance  or 
fortune  those  gifts  and  blessings  which  indeed  come  directly 
from  God — to  build  altars  to  Fortune  rather  than  to  Him 
who  is  the  author  of  every  good  thing  which  we  have  gotten. 
And  this  faith  of  men,  that  their  blessings,  even  their  high- 
est, come  to  them  by  a  blind  chance,  they  have  incorporated 
In  a  word ;  for  '  happy  '  and  '  happiness  '  are  connected  with 
'  hap,'  which  is  chance ; — how  unworthy,  then,  to  express 
any  true  felicity,  whose  very  essence  is  that  it  excludes 
hap  or  chance,  that  the  world  neither  gave  nor  can  take 
it  away."^*^  Against  a  similar  misuse  of  '  fortunate,'  '  un- 
fortunate,' Wordsworth  very  nobly  protests,  when,  of  one 
who,  having  lost  everything  else,  had  yet  kept  the  truth, 
he  exclaims: 

'  Call  not  the  royal  Swede  unfortunate, 
Who  never  did  to  Fortune  bend  the  knee.' 

There  are  words  which  reveal  a  wrong  or  insufficient  esti- 
mate that  men  take  of  their  duties,  or  that  at  all  events 
others  have  taken  before  them;  for  it  is  possible  that  the 
mischief  may  have  been  done  long  ago,  and  those  who  now 
use  the  words  may  only  have  inherited  it  from  others,  not 
helped  to  bring  it  about  themselves.  An  employer  of  labour 
advertises  that  he  wants  so  many  '  hands  ' ;  but  this  lan- 
guage never  could  have  become  current,  a  man  could  never 
have  thus  shrunk  into  a  *  hand  '  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow- 
man,  unless  this  latter  had  in  good  part  forgotten  that, 
annexed  to  those  hands  which  he  would  purchase  to  toil 
for  him,  were  also  heads  and  hearts  ^^ — a  fact,  by  the  way. 

67 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

of  which,  if  he  persists  in  forgetting  it,  he  may  be  re- 
minded in  very  unwelcome  ways  at  the  last.  In  Scripture 
there  is  another  not  unfrequent  putting  of  a  part  for  the 
whole,  as  when  it  is  said,  '  The  same  day  there  were  added 
unto  them  about  three  thousand  souls*  (Acts  2:41). 
'  Hands  '  here,  '  souls  '  there — the  contrast  may  suggest 
some  profitable  reflections. 

There  is  another  way  in  which  the  immorality  of  words 
mainly  displays  itself,  and  in  which  they  work  their  worst 
mischief;  that  is,  when  honourable  names  are  given  to  dis- 
honourable things,  when  sin  is  made  plausible;  arrayed, 
it  may  be,  in  the  very  colours  of  goodness,  or,  if  not  so, 
yet  in  such  as  go  far  to  conceal  its  own  native  deformity. 
'  The  tongue,'  as  St.  James  has  said,  '  is  a  world  of  iniquity  ' 
(3:7);  or,  as  some  would  render  his  words,  and  they  are 
then  still  more  to  our  purpose,  'the  ornament  of  iniquity,' 
that  which  sets  it  out  in  fair  and  attractive  colours. 

How  much  wholesomer  on  all  accounts  is  it  that  there 
should  be  an  ugly  word  for  an  ugly  thing,  one  involving 
moral  condemnation  and  disgust,  even  at  the  expense  of  a 
little  coarseness,  rather  than  one  which  plays  fast  and  loose 
with  the  eternal  principles  of  morality,  makes  sin  plausi- 
ble, and  shifts  the  divinely  reared  landmarks  of  right  and 
wrong,  thus  bringing  the  user  of  it  under  the  woe  of  them 
'  that  call  evil  good,  and  good  evil,  that  put  darkness  for 
light,  and  light  for  darkness,  that  put  bitter  for  sweet,  and 
sweet  for  bitter'  (Isai.  5:20).  On  this  text,  and  with 
reference  to  this  scheme.  South  has  written  four  of  his 
grandest  sermons,  bearing  this  striking  title.  Of  the  fatal 
Imposture  and  Force  of  Words.^-  How  awful,  yea,  how 
fearful,  is  this  '  imposture  and  force  '  of  theirs,  leading 
men  captive  at  will.  There  is  an  atmosphere  about  them 
which  they  are  evermore  diffusing,  a  savour  of  life  or  of 
death,   which   we   insensibly   inhale   at    each    moral   breath 

68 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

we  draw.^^  '  Winds  of  the  soul/  as  we  have  already  heard 
them  called,  they  fill  its  sails,  and  are  continually  impelling 
it  upon  its  course,  to  heaven  or  to  hell. 

Thus  how  diiFerent  the  light  in  which  we  shall  have 
learned  to  regard  a  sin,  according  as  we  have  been  wont 
to  designate  it,  and  to  hear  it  designated,  by  a  word  which 
brings  out  its  loathsomeness  and  deformity ;  or  by  one  which 
palliates  this  and  conceals;  men,  as  one  said  of  old,  being 
wont  for  the  most  part  to  be  ashamed  not  of  base  deeds, 
but  of  base  names  affixed  to  those  deeds.  In  the  murder 
trials  at  Dublin,  1883,  those  destined  to  the  assassin's  knife 
were  spoken  of  by  approvers  as  persons  to  be  removed, 
and  their  death  constantly  described  as  their  '  removal.' 
In  Sussex  it  is  never  said  of  a  man  that  he  is  drunk.  He 
may  be  '  tight,'  or  *  primed,'  or  '  crank,'  or  '  concerned  in 
liquor,'  nay,  it  may  even  be  admitted  that  he  had  taken  as 
much  liquor  as  was  good  for  him;  but  that  he  was  drunk, 
oh  never. ^*  Fair  words  for  foul  things  are  everywhere 
only  too  frequent;  thus  in  '  drug-damned  Italy,'  when  poi- 
soning was  the  rifest,  nobody  was  said  to  be  poisoned;  it 
was  only  that  the  death  of  this  one  or  of  that  had 
been  '  assisted  '  (aiutata).  Worse  still  are  words  which  seek 
to  turn  the  edge  of  the  divine  threatenings  against  some  sin 
by  a  jest;  as  when  in  France  a  subtle  poison,  by  whose 
aid  impatient  heirs  delivered  themselves  from  those  who 
stood  between  them  and  the  inheritance  which  they  coveted, 
was  called  '  poudre  de  succession.'  We  might  suppose 
beforehand  that  such  cloaks  for  sin  would  be  only  found 
among  people  in  an  advanced  state  of  artificial  cultivation. 
But  it  is  not  so.  Captain  Erskine,  who  visited  the  Fiji 
Islands  before  England  had  taken  them  into  her  keeping, 
and  who  gives  some  extraordinary  details  of  the  extent 
to  which  cannibalism  then  prevailed  among  their  inhabitants, 
pork  and  human  flesh  being  their  two  staple  articles  of  food, 

69 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

relates  in  his  deeply  interesting  record  of  his  voyage  that 
natural  pig  they  called  '  short  pig/  and  man  dressed  and 
prepared  for  food,  '  long  pig.'  There  was  doubtless  an 
attempt  here  to  carry  off  with  a  jest  the  revolting  character 
of  the  practice  in  which  they  indulged.  For  that  they  were 
themselves  aware  of  this,  that  their  consciences  did  bear 
witness  against  it,  was  attested  by  their  uniform  desire  to 
conceal,  if  possible,  all  traces  of  the  practice  from  European 
eyes. 

But  worst,  perhaps,  of  all  are  names  which  throw  a 
flimsy  veil  of  sentiment  over  some  sin.  What  a  source,  for 
example,  of  mischief  without  end  in  our  country  parishes 
is  the  one  practice  of  calling  a  child  born  out  of  wedlock  a 
'  love-child,'  instead  of  a  bastard.  It  would  be  hard  to 
estimate  how  much  it  has  lowered  the  tone  and  standard 
of  morality  among  us;  or  for  how  many  young  women  it 
may  have  helped  to  make  the  downward  way  more  sloping 
still.  How  vigorously  ought  we  to  oppose  ourselves  to  all 
such  immoralities  of  language.  This  opposition,  it  is  true, 
will  never  be  easy  or  pleasant;  for  many  who  will  endure 
to  commit  a  sin,  will  profoundly  resent  having  that  sin 
called  by  its  right  name.  Pirates,  as  Aristotle  tells  us, 
in  his  time  called  themselves  *  purveyors.'  ^^  Buccaneers, 
men  of  the  same  bloody  trade,  were  by  their  own  account 
'  brethren  of  the  coast.'  Shakespeare's  thieves  are  only 
true  to  human  nature,  when  they  name  themselves  '  St. 
Nicholas'  clerks,'  *  michers,'  '  nuthooks,'  '  minions  of  the 
moon,'  anything  in  short  but  thieves;  when  they  claim  for 
their  stealing  that  it  shall  not  be  so  named,  but  only  con- 
veying ('  convey  the  wise  it  call ')  ;  the  same  dislike  to  look 
an  ugly  fact  in  the  face  reappearing  among  the  voters  in  some 
of  our  corrupter  boroughs,  who  receive,  not  bribes — ^they 
are  hugely  indignant  if  this  is  imputed  to  them — but '  head- 
money  '  for  their  votes.     Shakespeare  indeed  has  said  that 

70 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

a  rose  by  any  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet ;  but  there  are 
some  things  which  are  not  roses,  and  which  are  counted  to 
smell  a  great  deal  sweeter  being  called  by  any  other  name 
than  their  own.  Thus,  to  deal  again  with  bribes,  call  a 
bribe  '  palm  oil,'  or  a  '  pot  de  vin,'  and  how  much  of  its 
ugliness  disappears.  Far  more  moral  words  are  the  English 
'  sharper  '  and  '  blackleg  '  than  the  French  '  chevalier 
d'industrie  ' :  "^  and  the  same  holds  good  of  the  English 
equivalent,  coarse  as  it  is,  for  the  Latin  *  conciliatrix.'  In 
this  last  word  we  have  a  notable  example  of  the  putting  of 
sweet  for  bitter,  of  the  attempt  to  present  a  disgraceful 
occupation  on  an  amiable,  almost  a  sentimental  side,  rather 
than  in  its  own  proper  deformity.^^ 

Use  and  custom  soon  dim  our  eyes  in  such  matters  as 
these ;  else  we  should  be  deeply  struck  by  a  familiar  instance 
of  this  falsehood  in  names,  one  which  perhaps  has  never 
struck  us  at  all — I  mean  the  profane  appropriation  of  *  eau 
de  vie  '  (water  of  life),  a  name  borrowed  from  some  of  the 
Saviour's  most  precious  promises  (John  4:  14;  Rev.  22: 
17),  to  a  drink  which  the  untutored  savage  with  a  truer  in- 
stinct has  named  '  fire-water  ' ;  which,  sad  to  say,  is  known  in 
Tahiti  as  *  British  water  ' ;  and  which  has  proved  for  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands,  in  every  clime,  not  *  water  of 
life,'  but  the  fruitful  source  of  disease,  crime,  and  madness, 
bringing  forth  first  these,  and  when  these  are  finished,  bring- 
ing forth  death.  There  is  a  blasphemous  irony  in  this 
appropriation  of  the  language  of  heaven  to  that  which, 
not  indeed  in  its  use,  but  in  its  too  frequent  abuse,  is  the 
instrument  of  hell,  that  is  almost  without  a  parallel."^ 

If  I  wanted  any  further  evidence  of  this,  the  moral  atmos- 
phere which  words  diffuse,  I  would  ask  you  to  observe  how 
the  first  thing  men  do,  when  engaged  in  controversy  with 
others,  be  it  in  the  conflict  of  the  tongue  or  the  pen,  or  of 
weapons  more  wounding  yet,  if  such  there  be,  is  ever  to 

71 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

assume  some  honourable  name  to  themselves^  such  as^  if 
possible,  shall  beg  the  whole  subject  in  dispute,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  affix  on  their  adversaries  a  name  which  shall 
place  them  in  a  ridiculous  or  contemptible  or  odious  light."*® 
A  deep  instinct,  deeper  perhaps  than  men  give  any  account 
of  to  themselves,  tells  them  how  far  this  will  go;  that  mul- 
titudes, utterly  unable  to  weigh  the  arguments  on  one  side 
or  the  other,  will  yet  be  receptive  of  the  influences  which 
these  words  are  evermore,  however  imperceptibly,  diffus- 
ing. By  argument  they  might  hope  to  gain  over  the  reason 
of  a  few,  but  by  help  of  these  nicknames  they  enlist  what 
at  first  are  so  much  more  potent,  the  prejudices  and  pas- 
sions of  the  many,  on  their  side.  Thus  when  at  the  breaking 
out  of  our  Civil  War  the  Parliamentary  party  styled  them- 
selves  '  The  Godly,'  while  to  the  Royalists  they  gave  the 
title  of  *  The  Malignants,'  it  is  certain  that,  wherever  they 
could  procure  entrance  and  allowance  for  these  terms,  the 
question  upon  whose  side  the  right  lay  was  already  decided. 
The  Royalists,  it  is  true,  made  exactly  the  same  employment 
of  what  Bentham  used  to  call  question-begging  words,  of 
words  steeped  quite  as  deeply  in  the  passions  which  ani- 
mated them.  It  was  much  when  at  Florence  the  '  Bad 
Boys,'  as  they  defiantly  called  themselves,  were  able  to  affix 
on  the  followers  of  Savonarola  the  title  of  Piagnoni  or  The 
Snivellers.  So,  too,  the  Franciscans,  when  they  nicknamed 
the  Dominicans  '  Maculists,'  as  denying,  or  at  all  events 
refusing  to  affirm  as  a  matter  of  faith,  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  conceived  without  stain  (sine  macula),  perfectly 
knew  that  this  title  would  do  much  to  put  their  rivals  in 
an  odious  light.  The  copperhead  in  America  is  a  peculiarly 
venomous  snake.  Something  effectual  was  done  when  this 
name  was  fastened,  as  it  lately  was,  by  one  party  in  America 
on  its  political  opponents.  Not  otherwise,  in  some  of  our 
northern  towns,  the  workmen  who  refuse  to  join  a  trade 

72 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

union  are  styled  '  knobsticks/  *  crawlers/  *  scabs/  '  black- 
legs.' Nor  can  there  be  any  question  of  the  potent  influence 
which  these  nicknames  of  contempt  and  scorn  exert. 

Seeing,  then,  that  language  contains  so  faithful  a  record 
of  the  good  and  of  the  evil  which  in  time  past  have  been 
working  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  we  shall  not  err, 
if  we  regard  it  as  a  moral  barometer  indicating  and  perma- 
nently marking  the  rise  or  fall  of  a  nation's  life.  To  study 
a  people's  language  will  be  to  study  them,  and  to  study 
them  at  best  advantage;  there,  where  they  present  them- 
selves to  us  under  fewest  disguises,  most  nearly  as  they  are. 
Too  many  have  had  a  hand  in  the  language  as  it  now  is, 
and  in  bringing  it  to  the  shape  in  which  we  find  it,  it  is 
too  entirely  the  collective  work  of  a  whole  people,  the  result 
of  the  united  contributions  of  all,  it  obeys  too  immutable 
laws,  to  allow  any  successful  tampering  with  it,  any  making 
of  it  to  witness  to  any  other  than  the  actual  facts  of  the 
case.^^ 

Thus  the  frivolity  of  an  age  or  nation,  its  mockery  of 
itself,  its  inability  to  comprehend  the  true  dignity  and  mean- 
ing of  life,  the  feebleness  of  its  moral  indignation  against 
evil,  all  this  will  find  an  utterance  in  the  employment  of 
solemn  and  earnest  words  in  senses  comparatively  trivial 
or  even  ridiculous.  '  Gehenna,'  that  word  of  such  terrible 
significance  on  the  lips  of  our  Lord,  has  in  French  issued 
in  '  gene,'  and  in  this  shape  expresses  no  more  than  a  slight 
and  petty  annoyance.  *  Ennui '  meant  once  something  very 
different  from  what  now  it  means.  Littre  gives  as  its  orig- 
inal signification,  '  anguish  of  soul,  caused  by  the  death  of 
persons  beloved,  by  their  absence,  by  the  shipwreck  of  hopes, 
by  any  misfortunes  whatever.'  '  Honnetete,'  which  should 
mean  that  virtue  of  all  virtues,  honesty,  and  which  did  mean 
it  once,  standing  as  it  does  now  for  external  civility  and  for 
nothing  more,  marks   a  willingness  to  accept  the  slighter 

73 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

observances  and  pleasant  courtesies  of  society  in  the  room 
of  deeper  moral  qualities.  '  Verite  '  is  at  this  day  so  worn 
out^  has  been  used  so  often  where  another  and  very  different 
word  would  have  been  more  appropriate,  that  not  seldom  a 
Frenchman  at  this  present  who  would  fain  convince  us  of 
the  truth  of  his  communication  finds  it  convenient  to  assure 
us  that  it  is  '  la  vraie  verite.'  Neither  is  it  well  that  words, 
which  ought  to  have  been  reserved  for  the  highest  mysteries 
of  the  spiritual  life,  should  be  squandered  on  slight  and 
secular  objects, — *  spirituel  '  itself  is  an  example  in  point, — 
or  that  words  implying  once  the  deepest  moral  guilt,  as  is 
the  case  with  '  perfide,'  '  malice,'  *  malin,'  in  French,  should 
be  employed  now  almost  in  honour,  applied  in  jest  and  in 
play. 

Often  a  people's  use  of  some  single  word  will  afford  us 
a  deeper  insight  into  their  real  condition,  their  habits  of 
thought  and  feeling,  than  whole  volumes  written  expressly 
with  the  intention  of  imparting  this  insight.  Thus  '  idiot,* 
a  Greek  word,  is  abundantly  characteristic  of  Greek  life. 
The  '  idiot,'  or  tStwT>^9,  was  originally  the  private  man,  as 
contradistinguished  from  one  clothed  with  office,  and  taking 
his  share  in  the  management  of  public  affairs.  In  this  its 
primary  sense  it  was  often  used  in  the  English  of  the  seven- 
teenth century ;  as  when  Jeremy  Taylor  says,  '  Humility 
is  a  duty  in  great  ones,  as  well  as  in  idiots.'  It  came  then  to 
signify  a  rude,  ignorant,  unskilled,  intellectually  unexer- 
cised person,  a  boor;  this  derived  or  secondary  sense  bear- 
ing witness  to  a  conviction  woven  deep  into  the  Greek  mind 
that  contact  with  public  life,  and  more  or  less  of  participa- 
tion in  it,  were  indispensable  even  to  the  right  development 
of  the  intellect,^^  a  conviction  which  could  scarcely  have 
uttered  itself  with  greater  clearness  than  it  does  in  this 
secondary  use  of  *  idiot.'  Our  tertiary,  in  which  the  '  idiot ' 
is   one  deficient  in   intellect,  not  merely   with    intellectual 

74 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

powers  unexercised,  is  only  this  secondary  pushed  a  little 
farther.  Once  more,  how  wonderfully  characteristic  of  the 
Greek  mind  it  is  that  the  language  should  have  one  and  the 
same  word  (KaAo?),  to  express  the  beautiful  and  the  good — 
goodness  being  thus  contemplated  as  the  highest  beauty; 
while  over  against  this  stands  another  word  (ato-x/aos),  used 
alike  for  the  ugly  to  look  at  and  for  the  morally  bad. 
Again,  the  innermost  differences  between  the  Greek  and 
the  Hebrew  reveal  themselves  in  the  several  salutations  of 
each,  in  the  '  Rejoice  '  of  the  first,  as  contrasted  with  the 
'  Peace  '  of  the  second.  The  clear,  cheerful,  world-enjoying 
temper  of  the  Greek  embodies  itself  in  the  first;  he  could 
desire  nothing  better  or  higher  for  himself,  nor  wish  it  for 
his  friend,  than  to  have  joy  in  his  life.  But  the  Hebrew 
had  a  deeper  longing  within  him,  and  one  which  finds  utter- 
ance in  his  '  Peace.'  It  is  not  hard  to  perceive  why  this 
latter  people  should  have  been  chosen  as  the  first  bearers 
of  that  truth  which  indeed  enables  truly  to  rejoice,  but  only 
through  first  bringing  peace;  nor  why  from  them  the  word 
of  life  should  first  go  forth.  It  may  be  urged,  indeed,  that 
these  were  only  forms,  and  such  they  may  have  at  length 
become ;  as  in  our  *  good-by  '  or  '  adieu  '  we  can  hardly  be 
said  now  to  commit  our  friend  to  the  Divine  protection; 
yet  still  they  were  not  forms  at  the  beginning,  nor  would 
they  have  held  their  ground,  if  ever  they  had  become  such 
altogether. 

How  much,  again,  will  be  sometimes  involved  in  the 
gradual  disuse  of  one  name,  and  the  coming  up  of  another 
in  its  room.  Thus,  little  as  the  fact,  and  the  moral  signifi- 
cance of  the  fact,  may  have  been  noticed  at  the  time,  what 
an  epoch  was  it  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy,  and  with 
what  distinctness  marking  a  more  thorough  secularizing  of 
its  whole  tone  and  spirit,  when  '  Ecclesia  Romana,'  the  offi- 
cial title  by  which  it  was  wont  at  an  earlier  day  to  designate 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

itself,  gave  place  to  the  later  title,  '  Curia  Romana/  the 
Roman  Church  making  room  for  the  Roman  Court.^^ 

The  modifications  of  meaning  which  a  word  has  under- 
gone as  it  has  been  transplanted  from  one  soil  to  another, 
so  that  one  nation  borrowing  it  from  another,  has  brought 
into  it  some  force  foreign  to  it  before,  has  deepened,  or 
extenuated,  or  otherwise  modified  its  meaning, — this  may- 
reveal  to  us,  as  perhaps  nothing  else  would,  fundamental 
diversities  of  character  existing  between  them.  The  word  in 
Greek  exactly  corresponding  to  our  '  self-sufficient '  is  one 
of  honour,  and  was  applied  to  men  in  their  praise.  And 
indeed  it  was  the  glory  of  the  heathen  philosophy  to  teach 
man  to  find  his  resources  in  his  own  bosom,  to  be  thus  suffi- 
cient for  himself;  and  seeing  that  a  true  centre  without 
him  and  above  him,  a  centre  in  God,  had  not  been 
revealed  to  him,  it  was  no  shame  for  him  to  seek  it 
there;  far  better  this  than  to  have  no  centre  at  all.  But 
the  Gospel  has  taught  us  another  lesson,  to  find  our  suffi- 
ciency in  God :  and  thus  '  self-sufficient,'  to  the  Greek 
suggesting  no  lack  of  modesty,  of  humility,  or  of  any  good 
thing,  at  once  suggests  such  to  us.  *  Self-sufficiency  '  no 
man  desires  now  to  be  attributed  to  him.  The  word  carries 
for  us  its  own  condemnation;  and  its  different  uses,  for 
honour  once,  for  reproach  now,  do  in  fact  ground  themselves 
on  the  innermost  differences  between  the  religious  condi- 
tion of  the  world  before  Christ  and  after. 

It  was  not  well  with  Italy,  she  might  fill  the  world  with 
exquisite  specimens  of  her  skill  in  the  arts,  with  pictures 
and  statues  of  rarest  loveliness,  but  all  higher  national  life 
was  wanting  to  her  during  those  centuries  in  which  she 
degraded  '  virtuoso,'  or  the  virtuous  man,  to  signify  one 
skilled  in  the  appreciation  of  painting,  music,  and  sculpture ; 
for  these,  the  ornamental  fringe  of  a  people's  life,  can 
never,   without  loss   of   all  manliness  of   character,  be  its 

76 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

main  texture  and  woof — not  to  say  that  excellence  in  them 
has  been  too  often  dissociated  from  all  true  virtue  and  moral 
worth.  The  opposite  exaggeration  of  the  Romans,  for 
whom  '  virtus  '  meant  predominantly  warlike  courage,  the 
truest  *  manliness  '  of  men,  was  more  tolerable  than  this ; 
for  there  is  a  sense  in  which  a  man's  *  valour  '  is  his  value, 
is  the  measure  of  his  worth ;  seeing  that  no  virtue  can  exist 
among  men  who  have  not  learned,  in  Milton's  glorious 
phrase,  '  to  hate  the  cowardice  of  doing  wrong.'  ®^  It  could 
not  but  be  morally  ill  with  a  people  among  whom  '  morbi- 
dezza  '  was  used  as  an  epithet  of  praise,  expressive  of  a 
beauty  which  on  the  score  of  its  sickly  softness  demanded  to 
be  admired.  There  was  too  sure  a  witness  here  for  the 
decay  of  moral  strength  and  health,  when  these  could  not 
merely  be  dissevered  from  beauty,  but  implicitly  put  in 
opposition  to  it.  Nor  less  must  it  have  fared  ill  with 
Italians,  there  was  little  joy  and  little  pride  which  they 
could  have  felt  in  their  country,  at  a  time  when  '  pelegrino,' 
meaning  properly  the  strange  or  the  foreign,  came  to  be 
of  itself  a  word  of  praise,  and  equivalent  to  beautiful.  Far 
better  the  pride  and  assumption  of  that  ancient  people  who 
called  all  things  and  persons  beyond  their  own  pale  barba- 
rous and  barbarians ;  far  better  our  own  '  outlandish,'  used 
with  something  of  the  same  contempt.  There  may  be  a 
certain  intolerance  in  our  use  of  these;  yet  this  how  much 
healthier  than  so  far  to  have  fallen  out  of  conceit  with  one's 
own  country,  so  far  to  affect  things  foreign,  that  these 
last,  merely  on  the  strength  of  being  foreign,  commend 
themselves  as  beautiful  in  our  sight.  How  little,  again, 
the  Italians,  until  quite  later  years,  can  have  lived  in  the 
spirit  of  their  ancient  worthies,  or  reverenced  the  most  illus- 
trious among  these,  we  may  argue  from  the  fact  that  they 
should  have  endured  so  far  to  degrade  the  name  of  one 
among  their  noblest,  that  every   glib  and  loquacious  hire- 

77 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

ling  who  shows  strangers  about  their  picture-galleries,  pal- 
aces, and  ruins,  is  called  '  cicerone/  or  a  Cicero !  It  is  unfor- 
tunate that  terms  like  these,  having  once  sprung  up,  are  not 
again,  or  are  not  easily  again,  got  rid  of.  They  remain, 
testifying  to  an  ignoble  past,  and  in  some  sort  helping  to 
maintain  it,  long  after  the  temper  and  tone  of  mind  that 
produced  them  has  passed  away.^^ 

Happily  it  is  nearly  impossible  for  us  in  England  to 
understand  the  mingled  scorn,  hatred,  fear,  suspicion,  con- 
tempt, which  in  time  past  were  associated  with  the  word 
'  sbirri '  in  Italian.  These  '  sbirri '  were  the  humble,  but 
with  all  this  the  acknowledged,  ministers  of  justice;  while 
yet  everything  which  is  mean  and  false  and  oppressive, 
which  can  make  the  name  of  justice  hateful,  was  implied 
in  this  title  of  theirs,  was  associated  with  their  name.  There 
is  no  surer  sign  of  a  bad  oppressive  rule,  than  when  the  titles 
of  the  administrators  of  law,  titles  which  should  be  in 
themselves  so  honourable,  thus  acquire  a  hateful  undermean- 
ing.  What  a  world  of  concussions,  chicane  and  fraud,  must 
have  found  place,  before  tax-gatherer,  or  exciseman,  '  pub- 
lican,' as  in  our  English  Bible,  could  become  a  word  steeped 
in  hatred  and  scorn,  as  alike  for  Greek  and  Jew  it  was ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  however  unwelcome  the  visits  of  the  one 
or  the  interference  of  the  other  may  be  to  us,  yet  the  sense 
of  the  entire  fairness  and  justice  with  which  their  exactions 
are  made,  acquits  these  names  for  us  of  the  slightest  sense 
of  dishonour.  '  Policeman  '  has  no  evil  subaudition  with 
us;  though  in  the  last  century,  when  a  Jonathan  Wild  was 
possible,  *  catchpole,'  a  word  in  Wiclif 's  time  of  no  dishon- 
our at  all,  was  abundantly  tinged  with  this  scorn  and  con- 
tempt. So  too,  if  at  this  day  any  accidental  profits  fall  or 
*  escheat '  to  the  Crown,  they  are  levied  with  so  much  fair- 
ness and  more  than  fairness  to  the  subject,  that,  were  not 
the  thing  already  accomplished,  *  escheat '  would  never  yield 

78 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

*  cheat/  nor  '  escheator  '  '  cheater/  as  through  the  extortions 
and  injustices  for  which  these  dues  were  formerly  a  pretext, 
they  actually  have  done. 

It  is  worse,  as  marking  that  a  still  holier  sanctuary  than 
that  of  civil  government  has  become  profane  in  men's 
sight,  when  words  which  express  sacred  functions  and  offices 
become  redolent  of  scorn.  How  thankful  we  may  be  that 
in  England  we  have  no  equivalent  to  the  German  '  Pfaffe,' 
which,  identical  with  '  papa  '  and  '  pope,'  and  a  name  given 
at  first  to  any  priest,  now  carries  with  it  the  insinuation  of 
almost  every  unworthiness  in  the  forms  of  meanness,  servil- 
ity, and  avarice  which  can  render  the  priest's  office  and 
person  base  and  contemptible. 

Much  may  be  learned  by  noting  the  words  which  nations 
have  been  obliged  to  borrow  from  other  nations,  as  not 
having  the  same  of  home-growth — this  in  most  cases,  if  not 
in  all,  testifying  that  the  thing  itself  was  not  native,  but 
an  exotic,  transplanted,  like  the  word  that  indicated  it, 
from  a  foreign  soil.  Thus  it  is  singularly  characteristic 
of  the  social  and  political  life  of  England,  as  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  other  European  nations,  that  to  it  alone 
the  word  '  club  '  belongs ;  France  and  Germany,  having  been 
alike  unable  to  grow  a  word  of  their  own,  have  borrowed 
ours.  That  England  should  have  been  the  birthplace  of 
'  club  '  is  nothing  wonderful ;  for  these  voluntary  associ- 
ations of  men  for  the  furthering  of  such  social  or  political 
ends  as  are  near  to  the  hearts  of  the  associates  could  have 
only  had  their  rise  under  such  favourable  circumstances 
as  ours.  In  no  country  where  there  was  not  extreme  per- 
sonal freedom  could  they  have  sprung  up;  and  as  little  in 
any  where  men  did  not  know  how  to  use  this  freedom  with 
moderation  and  self-restraint,  could  they  long  have  been 
endured.  It  was  comparatively  easy  to  adopt  the  word; 
but  the  ill  success  of  the  '  club '  itself  everywhere  save  here 

79 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

where  it  is  native,  has  shown  that  it  was  not  so  easy  to 
transplant  or,  having  transplanted,  to  acclimatize  the  thing. 
While  we  have  lent  this  and  other  words,  political  and  indus- 
trial for  the  most  part,  to  the  French  and  Germans,  it  would 
not  be  less  instructive,  if  time  allowed,  to  trace  our  corre- 
sponding obligations  to  them. 

And  scarcely  less  significant  and  instructive  than  the 
presence  of  a  word  in  a  language,  will  be  occasionally  its 
absence.  Thus  Fronto,  a  Greek  orator  in  Roman  times, 
finds  evidence  of  an  absence  of  strong  family  affection  on 
the  part  of  the  Romans  in  the  absence  of  any  word  in  the 
Latin  language  corresponding  to  the  Greek  (juXoa-Topyos. 
How  curious,  from  the  same  point  of  view,  are  the  conclu- 
sions which  Cicero  in  his  high  Roman  fashion  draws  from 
the  absence  of  any  word  in  the  Greek  answering  to  the 
Latin  *  ineptus  ' ;  not  from  this  concluding,  as  we  might  have 
anticipated,  that  the  character  designated  by  the  word  was 
wanting,  but  rather  that  the  fault  was  so  common,  so  uni- 
versal with  the  Greeks,  that  they  failed  to  recognize  it  as 
a  fault  at  all.*^^  Very  instructive  you  may  find  it  to  note 
these  words,  which  one  people  possess,  but  to  which  others 
have  nothing  to  correspond,  so  that  they  have  no  choice 
but  to  borrow  these,  or  else  to  go  without  altogether.  Here 
are  some  French  words  for  which  it  would  not  be  easy, 
nay,  in  most  cases  it  would  be  impossible,  to  find  exact 
equivalents  in  English  or  in  German,  or  probably  in  any 
language :  '  aplomb,'  '  badinage,'  *  borne,'  *  chic,'  '  chicane,' 
'  cossu,'  *  coterie,'  *  egarement,'  *  elan,'  *  espieglerie,'  *  etour- 
derie,'  '  friponnerie,'  *  gentil,'  *  ingenue,'  *  liaison,'  '  malice,' 

*  parvenu,'     '  persiflage,'     *  prevenant,'     *  ruse,'     '  tournure,' 

*  tracasserie,'  'verve.'  It  is  evident  that  the  words  just 
named  have  to  do  with  shades  of  thought  which  are  to  a 
great  extent  unfamiliar  to  us;  for  which,  at  any  rate,  we 
have  not  found  a  name,  have  hardly  felt  that  they  needed 

80 


ON     THE     MORALITY     IN     WORDS 

one.  But  fine  and  subtle  as  in  many  instances  are  the 
thoughts  which  these  words  embody ,  there  are  deeper 
thoughts  struggling  in  the  bosom  of  a  people^  who  have 
devised  for  themselves  such  words  as  the  following: 
'  Gemiith/  '  Heimweh/  '  Innigkeit/  *  Sehnsucht/  '  Tief- 
sinn/  *  Sittsamkeit/  '  Verhangniss/  *  Weltschmerz/  '  Zucht ' ; 
all  these  being  German  words  which,  in  a  similar  manner, 
partially  or  wholly  fail  to  find  their  equivalents  in  French. 

The  petty  spite  which  unhappily  so  often  reigns  between 
nations  dwelling  side  by  side  with  one  another,  as  it  embodies 
itself  in  many  shapes,  so  it  finds  vent  in  the  words  which 
they  borrow  from  one  another,  and  the  use  to  which  they 
put  them.  Thus  the  French,  borrowing  *  hablar  '  from  the 
Spaniards,  with  whom  it  means  simply  to  speak,  give  it  in 
*  habler  '  the  sense  of  to  brag ;  the  Spaniards  paying  them 
off  in  exactly  their  own  coin,  for  of  '  parler,'  which  in  like 
manner  in  French  is  but  to  speak,  they  make  '  parlar,'  which 
means  to  prate,  to  chat. 

But  it  is  time  to  bring  this  lecture  to  an  end.  These 
illustrations,  to  which  it  would  be  easy  to  add  more,  justify 
all  that  has  been  asserted  of  a  moral  element  existing  in 
words;  so  that  they  do  not  hold  themselves  neutral  in  that 
great  conflict  between  good  and  evil,  light  and  darkness, 
which  is  dividing  the  world;  that  they  are  not  satisfied  to 
be  passionless  vehicles,  now  of  the  truth,  and  now  of  lies. 
We  see,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  continually  take  their 
side,  are  some  of  them  children  of  light,  others  children  of 
this  world,  or  even  of  darkness;  they  beat  with  the  pulses 
of  our  life ;  they  stir  with  our  passions ;  we  clothe  them  with 
light;  we  steep  them  in  scorn;  they  receive  from  us  the 
impressions  of  our  good  and  of  our  evil,  which  again  they 
are  most  active  still  further  to  propagate  and  diffuse.^^ 
Must  we  not  own  then  that  there  is  a  wondrous  and  myste- 
rious world,  of  which  we  may  hitherto  have  taken  too  little 

81 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

account,  around  us  and  about  us?  Is  there  not  something 
very  solemn  and  very  awful  in  wielding  such  an  instrument 
as  this  of  language  is,  with  such  power  to  wound  or  to  heal, 
to  kill  or  to  make  alive  ?  and  may  not  a  deeper  meaning  than 
hitherto  we  have  attached  to  it,  lie  in  that  saying,  '  By  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt 
be  condemned '  ? 


82 


LECTURE      4 

On  the  History  in  Words 

Language,  being  ever  in  flux  and  flow,  and,  for  nations 
to  which  letters  are  still  strange,  existing  only  for  the  ear 
and  as  a  sound,  we  might  beforehand  expect  would  prove 
the  least  trustworthy  of  all  vehicles  whereby  the  knowledge 
of  the  past  has  reached  our  present;  that  ojie  which  would 
most  certainly  betray  its  charge.  In  actual  fact  it  has  not 
proved  so  at  all.  It  is  the  main,  oftentimes  the  only,  con- 
necting link  between  the  two,  an  ark  riding  above  the  water- 
flopds  that  have  swept  away  or  submerged  every  other 
landmark  and  memorial  of  bygone  ages  and  vanished  gen- 
erations of  men.  Far  beyond  all  written  records  in  a 
language,  the  language  itself  stretches  back,  and  off'ers 
itself  for  our  investigation — *  the  pedigree  of  nations,'  as 
Johnson  calls  it  ®^ — itself  in  its  own  independent  existence 
a  far  older  and  at  the  same  time  a  far  more  instructive 
document  than  any  book,  inscription,  or  other  writing  which 
employs  it.  The  written  records  may  have  been  falsified 
by  carelessness,  by  vanity,  by  fraud,  by  a  multitude  of 
causes;  but  language  never  deceives,  if  only  we  know  how 
to  question  it  aright. 

Such  investigations  as  these,  it  is  true,  lie  plainly  out 
of  your  sphere.  Not  so,  however,  those  humbler  yet  not 
less  interesting  inquiries,  which  by  the  aid  of  any  tolerable 
dictionary  you  may  carry  on  into  the  past  history  of  your 
own  land,  as  attested  by  the  present  language  of  its  people. 
You  know  how  the  geologist  is  able  from  the  diff*erent  strata 
and  deposits,  primary,  secondary,  or  tertiary,  succeeding 
one  another,  which  he  meets,  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of 

83 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

the  successive  physical  changes  through  which  a  region 
has  passed;  is,  so  to  say,  in  a  condition  to  preside  at  those 
past  changes,  to  measure  the  forces  that  were  at  work  to 
produce  them,  and  almost  to  indicate  their  date.  Now  with 
such  a  language  as  the  English  before  us,  bearing  as  it 
does  the  marks  and  footprints  of  great  revolutions  pro- 
foundly impressed  upon  it,  we  may  carry  on  moral  and 
historical  researches  precisely  analogous  to  his.  Here  too 
are  strata  and  deposits,  not  of  gravel  and  chalk,  sandstone 
and  limestone,  but  of  Celtic,  Latin,  Low  German,  Danish, 
Norman  words,  and  then  once  more  Latin  and  French,  with 
slighter  intrusions  from  many  other  quarters:  and  any  one 
with  skill  to  analyze  the  language  might,  up  to  a  certain 
point,  re-create  for  himself  the  history  of  the  people  speak- 
ing that  language,  might  with  tolerable  accuracy  appre- 
ciate the  divers  elements  out  of  which  that  people  was 
made  up,  in  what  proportion  these  were  mingled,  and  in 
what  succession  they  followed,  one  upon  the  other. 

Would  he  trace,  for  example,  the  relation  in  which  the 
English  and  Norman  occupants  of  this  land  stood  to  one 
another?  An  account  of  this,  in  the  main  as  accurate  as  it 
would  be  certainly  instructive,  might  be  drawn  from  an 
intelligent  study  of  the  contributions  which  they  have 
severally  made  to  the  English  language,  as  bequeathed  to 
us  jointly  by  them  both.  Supposing  all  other  records  to  have 
perished,  we  might  still  work  out  and  almost  reconstruct 
the  history  by  these  aids ;  even  as  now,  when  so  many  docu- 
ments, so  many  institutions  survive,  this  must  still  be 
accounted  the  most  important,  and  that  of  which  the  study 
will  introduce  us,  as  no  other  can,  into  the  innermost  heart 
and  life  of  large  periods  of  our  history. 

Nor,  indeed,  is  it  hard  to  see  why  the  language  m,ust  con- 
tain such  instruction  as  this,  when  we  a  little  realize  to 
ourselves  the  stages  by  which  it  has  reached  us  in  its  present 

84 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

shape.  There  was  a  time  when  the  languages  which  the 
English  and  the  Norman  severally  spoke,  existed  each  by 
the  side  of,  but  unmingled  with,  the  other ;  one,  that  of  the 
small  dominant  class,  the  other  that  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people.  By  degrees,  however,  with  the  reconcili- 
ation and  partial  fusion  of  the  two  races,  the  two  languages 
eifected  a  transaction;  one  indeed  prevailed  over  the  other, 
but  at  the  same  time  received  a  multitude  of  the  words  of 
that  other  into  its  own  bosom.  At  once  there  would  exist 
duplicates  for  many  things.  But  as  in  popular  speech  two 
words  will  not  long  exist  side  by  side  to  designate  the  same 
thing,  it  became  a  question  how  the  relative  claims  of  the 
English  and  Norman  word  should  adjust  themselves,  which 
should  remain,  which  should  be  dropped ;  or,  if  not  dropped, 
should  be  transferred  to  some  other  object,  or  express  some 
other  relation.  It  is  not  of  course  meant  that  this  was  ever 
formally  proposed,  or  as  something  to  be  settled  by  agree- 
ment; but  practically  one  was  to  be  taken  and  one  left. 
Which  was  it  that  should  maintain  its  ground.'^  Evidently, 
where  a  word  was  often  on  the  lips  of  one  race,  its  equiva- 
lent seldom  on  those  of  the  other,  where  it  intimately  cohered 
with  the  whole  manner  of  life  of  one,  was  only  remotely  in 
contact  with  that  of  the  other,  where  it  laid  strong  hold  on 
one,  and  only  slight  on  the  other,  the  issue  could  not  be 
doubtful.  In  several  cases  the  matter  was  simpler  still: 
it  was  not  that  one  word  expelled  the  other,  or  that  rival 
claims  had  to  be  adjusted;  but  that  there  never  had  existed 
more  than  one  word,  the  thing  which  that  word  noted 
having  been  quite  strange  to  the  other  section  of  the  nation. 
Here  is  the  explanation  of  the  assertion  made  just  now — 
namely,  that  we  might  almost  reconstruct  our  history,  so 
far  as  it  turns  upon  the  Norman  Conquest,  by  an  analysis 
of  our  present  language,  a  mustering  of  its  words  in  groups, 
and    a   close  observation   of  the   nature   and   character  of 

85 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

those  which  the  two  races  have  severally  contributed  to  it. 
Thus  we  should  confidently  conclude  that  the  Norman  was 
the  ruling  race^  from  the  noticeable  fact  that  all  the  words 
of  dignity,  state,  honour,  and  pre-eminence,  with  one  remark- 
able exception  (to  be  adduced  presently),  descend  to  us 
from  them — *  sovereign,'  '  sceptre,'  '  throne,'  '  realm,' 
*  royalty,'  '  homage,'  '  prince,'  '  duke,'  *  count '  ('  earl '  in- 
deed is  Scandinavian,  though  he  must  borrow  his  '  countess  ' 
from  the  Norman),  '  chancellor,'  *  treasurer,'  '  palace,' 
'  castle,'  '  dome,'  and  a  multitude  more.  At  the  same  time 
the  one  remarkable  exception  of  '  king  '  would  make  us, 
even  did  we  know  nothing  of  the  actual  facts,  suspect  that 
the  chieftain  of  this  ruling  race  came  in  not  upon  a  new 
title,  not  as  overthrowing  a  former  dynasty,  but  claiming  to 
be  in  the  rightful  line  of  its  succession;  that  the  true  con- 
tinuity of  the  nation  had  not,  in  fact  any  more  than  in  word, 
been  entirely  broken,  but  survived,  in  due  time  to  assert 
itself  anew. 

And  yet,  while  the  statelier  superstructure  of  the  lan- 
guage, almost  all  articles  of  luxury,  all  having  to  do  with 
the  chase,  with  chivalry,  with  personal  adornment,  are  Nor- 
man throughout;  with  the  broad  basis  of  the  language, 
and  therefore  of  the  life,  it  is  otherwise.  The  great  features 
of  nature,  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  earth,  water,  and  firfe;  the 
divisions  of  time ;  three  out  of  the  four  seasons,  spring,  sum- 
mer, and  winter;  the  features  of  natural  scenery,  the  words 
used  in  earliest  childhood,  the  simpler  emotions  of  the  mind ; 
all  the  prime  social  relations,  father,  mother,  husband,  wife, 
son,  daughter,  brother,  sister, — these  are  of  native  growth 
and  unborrowed.  '  Palace  '  and  '  castle  '  have  reached  us 
from  the  Norman,  but  to  our  English  forefathers  we  owe 
far  dearer  names,  the  *  house,'  the  '  roof,'  the  '  home,'  the 
'  hearth.'  His  '  board  '  too,  and  often  probably  it  was  no 
more,  has  a  more  hospitable  sound  than  the  *  table  '  of  his 

86 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

lord.  His  sturdy  arms  turn  the  soil ;  he  is  the  *  boor/  the 
'  hind/  the  '  churl  ' ;  or  if  his  Norman  master  has  a  name 
for  him,  it  is  one  which  on  his  lips  becomes  more  and 
more  a  title  of  opprobrium  and  contempt,  the  '  villain.' 
The  instruments  used  in  cultivating  the  earth,  the  '  plough/ 
the  *  share/  the  '  rake/  the  '  scythe/  the  *  harrow/  the 
'  wain/  the  '  sickle/  the  '  spade/  the  '  sheaf/  the  '  barn/ 
are  expressed  in  his  language;  so  too  the  main  products 
of  the  earth,  as  wheat,  rye,  oats,  here,  grass,  flax,  hay, 
straw,  weeds;  and  no  less  the  names  of  domestic  animals. 
You  will  remember,  no  doubt,  how  in  the  matter  of  these 
Wamba,  the  Saxon  jester  in  Ivanhoe,  plays  the  philologer, 
having  noted  that  the  names  of  almost  all  animals,  so  long 
as  they  are  alive,  are  Saxon,  but  when  dressed  and  pre- 
pared for  food  become  Norman — a  fact,  he  would  intimate, 
not  very  wonderful ;  for  the  Saxon  hind  had  the  charge  and 
labour  of  tending  and  feeding  them,  but  only  that  they 
might  appear  on  the  table  of  his  Norman  lord.  Thus  *  ox,' 
'  steer,'  *  cow,'  are  Saxon,  but  '  beef  '  Norman ;  '  calf  '  is 
Saxon,  but  '  veal '  Norman ;  '  sheep  '  is  Saxon,  but  '  mutton  ' 
Norman :  so  it  is  severally  with  '  swine  '  and  *  pork,'  '  deer  ' 
and  '  venison,'  '  fowl '  and  '  pullet.'  '  Bacon,'  the  only  flesh 
which  perhaps  ever  came  within  the  hind's  reach,  is  the 
single  exception.  Putting  all  this  together,  with  much  more 
of  the  same  kind,  which  has  only  been  indicated  here,  we 
should  certainly  gather,  that  while  there  are  manifest  tokens 
preserved  in  our  language  of  the  Saxon  having  been  for  a 
season  an  inferior  and  even  an  oppressed  race,  the  stable 
elements  of  English  life,  however  overlaid  for  a  while,  had 
still  made  good  their  claim  to  be  the  ground-work  of  the 
after  nation  as  of  the  after  language;  and  to  the  justice  of 
this  conclusion  all  other  historic  records,  and  the  present 
social  condition  of  England,  consent  in  bearing  witness. 
Then  again,  who  could  doubt,  even  if  the  fact  were  not 

87 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

historically  attested^  that  the  Arabs  were  the  arithmeti- 
cians, the  astronomers,  the  chemists,  tlie  merchants  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  when  he  had  once  noted  that  from  them  we 
have  gotten  these  words  and  so  many  others  like  them — 
*  alchemy,'  *  alcohol,'  '  alembic,'  '  algebra,'  '  alkali,'  '  alma- 
nack,' '  azimuth,'  '  cypher,'  '  elixir,'  '  magazine,'  '  nadir,' 
'  tariff,'  '  zenith,'  *  zero  '  ? — for  if  one  or  two  of  these  were 
originally  Greek,  they  reached  us  through  the  Arabic,  and 
with  tokens  of  their  transit  cleaving  to  them.  In  like 
manner,  even  though  history  were  silent  on  the  matter,  we 
might  conclude,  and  we  know  that  we  should  rightly  con- 
clude, that  the  origins  of  the  monastic  system  are  to  be 
sought  in  the  Greek  and  not  in  the  Latin  branch  of  the 
Church,  seeing  that  with  hardly  an  exception  the  words 
expressing  the  constituent  elements  of  the  system,  as 
'  anchorite,'  *  archimandrite,'  '  ascetic,'  '  cenobite,'  '  hermit,' 
'  monastery,'  '  monk,'  are  Greek  and  not  Latin. 

But  the  study  of  words  will  throw  rays  of  light  upon  a 
past  infinitely  more  remote  than  any  which  I  have  sug- 
gested here,  will  reveal  to  us  secrets  of  the  past,  which  else 
must  have  been  lost  to  us  for  ever.  Thus  it  must  be  a  ques- 
tion of  profound  interest  for  as  many  as  count  the  study 
of  man  to  be  far  above  every  other  study,  to  ascertain  what 
point  of  culture  that  Indo-European  race  of  which  we  come, 
the  stirps  generosa  et  historica  of  the  world,  as  Coleridge 
has  called  it,  had  attained,  while  it  was  dwelling  still  as  one 
family  in  its  common  home.  No  voices  of  history,  the  very 
faintest  voices  of  tradition,  reach  us  from  ages  so  far 
removed  from  our  own.  But  in  the  silence  of  all  other  voices 
there  is  one  voice  which  makes  itself  heard,  and  which  can 
tell  us  much.  Where  Indian,  and  Greek,  and  Latin,  and 
Teutonic  designate  some  object  by  the  same  word,  and 
where  it  can  be  clearly  shown  that  they  did  not,  at  a  later 
day,  borrow  that  word  one  from  the  other,  the  object,  we 

88 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

may  confidently  conclude,  must  have  been  familiar  to  the 
Indo-European  race,  while  yet  these  several  groups  of  it 
dwelt  as  one  undivided  family  together.  Now  they  have 
such  common  words  for  the  chief  domestic  animals — for 
ox,  for  sheep,  for  horse,  for  dog,  for  goose,  and  for  many 
more.  From  this  we  have  a  right  to  gather  that  before  the 
migrations  began,  they  had  overlived  and  outgrown  the 
fishing  and  hunting  stages  of  existence,  and  entered  on 
the  pastoral.  They  have  not  all  the  same  words  for  the  main 
products  of  the  earth,  as  for  corn,  wheat,  barley,  wine; 
it  is  tolerably  evident  therefore  that  they  had  not  entered 
on  the  agricultural  stage.  So  too  from  the  absence  of 
names  in  common  for  the  principal  metals,  we  have  a  right 
to  argue  that  they  had  not  arrived  at  a  knowledge  of  the 
working  of  these. 

On  the  other  hand,  identical  names  for  dress,  for  house, 
for  door,  for  garden,  for  numbers  as  far  as  a  hundred, 
for  the  primary  relations  of  the  family,  as  father,  mother, 
brother,  sister,  son,  daughter,  for  the  Godhead,  testify  that 
the  common  stock,  intellectual  and  moral,  was  not  small 
which  they  severally  took  with  them  when  they  went  their 
way,  each  to  set  up  for  itself  and  work  out  its  own  destinies 
in  its  own  appointed  region  of  the  earth.^^  This  common 
stock  may,  indeed,  have  been  much  larger  than  these  investi- 
gations declare;  for  a  word,  once  common  to  all  these  lan- 
guages, may  have  survived  only  in  one ;  or  possibly  may  have 
perished  in  all.  Larger  it  may  very  well,  but  poorer  it 
cannot,  have  been.^^ 

This  is  one  way  in  which  words,  by  their  presence  or 
their  absence,  may  teach  us  history  which  else  we  now  can 
never  know.     I  pass  to  other  ways. 

There  are  vast  harvests  of  historic  lore  garnered  often 
in  single  words;  important  facts  which  they  at  once  pro- 
claim and  preserve;  these  too  such  as  sometimes  have  sur- 

89 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

vived  nowhere  else  but  in  them.  How  much  history  lies 
in  the  word  '  church.'  I  see  no  sufficient  reason  to  dissent 
from  those  who  derive  it  from  the  Greek  KvptaKov,  '  that 
which  pertains  to  the  Lord/  or  '  the  house  which  is  the 
Lord's.'  It  is  true  that  a  difficulty  meets  us  at  the  threshold 
here.  How  explain  the  presence  of  a  Greek  word  in  the 
vocabulary  of  our  Teutonic  forefathers  ?  for  that  we  do  not 
derive  it  immediately  from  the  Greek_,  is  certain.  What 
contact,  direct  or  indirect,  between  the  languages  will 
account  for  this.^  The  explanation  is  curious.  While 
Angles,  Saxons,  and  other  tribes  of  the  Teutonic  stock  were 
almost  universally  converted  through  contact  with  the  Latin 
Church  in  the  western  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire,  or 
by  its  missionaries,  some  Goths  on  the  Lower  Danube  had 
been  brought  at  an  earlier  date  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
by  Greek  missionaries  from  Constantinople;  and  this 
KvpiaKov,  or  '  church,'  did,  with  certain  other  words,  pass 
over  from  the  Greek  to  the  Gothic  tongue;  these  Goths, 
the  first  converted  and  the  first  therefore  with  a  Christian 
vocabulary,  lending  the  word  in  their  turn  to  the  other  Ger- 
man tribes,  to  our  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers  among  the  rest; 
and  by  this  circuit  it  has  come  round  from  Constantinople 
to  us.^« 

Or  again,  interrogate  *  pagan  '  and  *  paganism,'  and  you 
will  find  important  history  in  them.  You  are  aware  that 
'  pagani,'  derived  from  '  pagus,'  a  village,  had  at  first  no 
religious  significance,  but  designated  the  dwellers  in  ham- 
lets and  villages  as  distinguished  from  tlie  inhabitants  of 
towns  and  cities.  It  was,  indeed,  often  applied  to  all 
civilians  as  contradistinguished  from  the  military  caste ;  and 
this  fact  may  have  had  a  certain  influence,  when  the  idea 
of  the  faithful  as  soldiers  of  Christ  was  strongly  realized 
in  the  minds  of  men.  But  it  was  mainly  in  the  following 
way  that  it  grew  to  be  a  name  for  those  alien  from   the 

90 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

faith  of  Christ.  The  Church  fixed  itself  first  in  the  seats 
and  centres  of  intelligence,  in  the  towns  and  cities  of  the 
Roman  Empire;  in  tliem  its  earliest  triumphs  were  won; 
while,  long  after  these  had  accepted  the  truth,  heathen 
superstitions  and  idolatries  lingered  on  in  the  obscure  ham- 
lets and  villages ;  so  that  *  pagans/  or  villagers,  came  to 
be  applied  to  all  the  remaining  votaries  of  the  old  and 
decayed  superstitions,  although  not  all,  but  only  most  of 
them,  were  such.  In  an  edict  of  the  Emperor  Valentinian, 
of  date  A.  D.  368,  '  pagan  '  first  assumes  this  secondary 
meaning.  '  Heathen  '  has  run  a  course  curiously  similar. 
When  the  Christian  faith  first  found  its  way  into  Germany, 
it  was  the  wild  dwellers  on  the  heaths  who  were  the  slowest 
to  accept  it,  the  last  probably  whom  it  reached.  One  hardly 
expects  an  etymology  in  Piers  Plowman;  but  this  is  there; 

'Hethene  is  to  mene  after  heth, 
And  untiled  erthe.' 

B.  XV.  451,  Skeat's  ed.  (Clarendon  Press). 

Here,  then,  are  two  instructive  notices — one,  the  historic 
fact  that  the  Church  of  Christ  planted  itself  first  in  the 
haunts  of  learning  and  intelligence;  another,  morally  more 
significant,  that  it  did  not  shun  discussion,  feared  not  to 
encounter  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  this  world,  or  to  expose 
its  claims  to  the  searching  examination  of  educated  men; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  had  its  claims  first  recognized  by  them, 
and  in  the  great  cities  of  the  world  won  first  a  complete 
triumph  over  all  opposing  powers."^^ 

I  quoted  in  my  first  lecture  the  saying  of  one  who,  magni- 
fying the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  such  studies  as 
ours,  did  not  fear  to  affirm  that  oftentimes  more  might  be 
learned  from  the  history  of  a  word  thajj,  from  the  history 
of  a  campaign.  Thus  follow  some  Latin  word,  *  imperator  ' 
for   example;    as    Dean   Merivale    has    followed    it   in   his 

91 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

History  of  the  Romans,"'^  and  you  will  own  as  much.  But 
there  is  no  need  to  look  abroad.  Words  of  our  own  out  of 
number,  such  as  '  barbarous/  '  benefice/  *  clerk/  '  common- 
sense/  '  romance/  *  sacrament,'  *  sophist/  ^^  would  prove  the 
truth  of  the  assertion.  Let  us  take  '  sacrament ' ;  its  his- 
tory, while  it  carries  us  far,  will  yet  carry  us  by  ways  full 
of  instruction;  and  these  not  the  less  instructive,  while  we 
restrict  our  inquiries  to  the  external  history  of  the  word. 
We  find  ourselves  first  among  the  forms  of  Roman  law. 
The  *  sacramentum  '  appears  there  as  the  deposit  or  pledge, 
which  in  certain  suits  plaintiff  and  defendant  were  alike 
bound  to  make,  and  whereby  they  engaged  themselves  to 
one  another;  the  loser  of  the  suit  forfeiting  his  pledge  to 
sacred  temple  uses,  from  which  fact  the  name  '  sacramen- 
tum,' or  thing  consecrated,  was  first  derived.  The  word, 
as  next  employed,  plants  us  amidst  the  military  affairs  of 
Rome,  designating  the  military  oath  by  which  the  Roman 
soldiers  mutually  engaged  themselves  at  the  first  enlist- 
ing never  to  desert  their  standards,  or  turn  their  backs 
upon  the  enemy,  or  abandon  their  general, — ^this  employ- 
ment teaching  us  the  sacredness  which  the  Romans  attached 
to  their  military  engagements,  and  going  far  to  account 
for  their  victories.  The  word  was  then  transferred  from 
this  military  oath  to  any  solemn  oath  whatsoever.  These 
three  stages  *  sacramentum  '  had  already  passed  through, 
before  the  Church  claimed  it  for  her  own,  or  indeed  her- 
self existed  at  all.  Her  early  writers,  out  of  a  sense  of  the 
sacredness  and  solemnity  of  the  oath,  transferred  this  name 
to  almost  any  act  of  special  solemnity  or  sanctity,  above 
all  to  such  mysteries  as  intended  more  than  met  eye  or  ear. 
For  them  the  Incarnation  was  a  *  sacrament,'  the  lifting 
up  of  the  brazen  serpent  was  a  '  sacrament,'  the  giving  of 
the  manna,  and  many  things  more.  It  is  well  to  be 
acquainted  with  this  phase  of  the  word's  history,  depriving 

92 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

as  it  does  of  all  convincing  power  those  passages  quoted  by 
Roman  Catholic  controversialists  from  early  church-writers 
in  proof  of  their  seven  sacraments.  It  is  quite  true  that 
these  may  have  called  marriage  a  '  sacrament,'  and  con- 
firmation a  '  sacrament/  and  we  may  reach  the  Roman 
seven  without  difficulty;  but  then  they  called  many  things 
more,  which  even  the  theologians  of  Rome  do  not  include 
in  the  *  sacraments  '  properly  so  called,  by  the  same  name; 
and  this  evidence,  proving  too  much,  in  fact  proves  nothing 
at  all.  One  other  stage  in  the  word's  history  remains;  its 
limitation,  namely,  to  the  two  '  sacraments,'  properly  so 
called,  of  the  Christian  Church.  A  reminiscence  of  the 
employment  of  '  sacrament,'  an  employment  which  still 
survived,  to  signify  the  plighted  troth  of  the  Roman  soldier 
to  his  captain  and  commander,  was  that  which  had  most  to 
do  with  the  transfer  of  the  word  to  Baptism;  wherein  we, 
with  more  than  one  allusion  to  this  oath  of  theirs,  pledge 
ourselves  to  fight  manfully  under  Christ's  banner,  and  to 
continue  his  faithful  soldiers  and  servants  to  our  life's 
end;  while  the  mysterious  character  of  the  Holy  Eucharist 
was  mainly  that  which  earned  for  it  this  name. 

We  have  already  found  history  imbedded  in  the  word 
*  frank  ' ;  but  I  must  bring  forward  the  Franks  again,  to 
account  for  the  fact  with  which  we  are  all  familiar,  that  in 
the  East  not  Frenchmen  alone,  but  all  Europeans,  are  so 
called.  Why,  it  may  be  asked,  should  this  be?  This  wide 
use  of  '  Frank  '  dates  from  the  Crusades ;  Michaud,  the 
chief  French  historian  of  these,  finding  evidence  here  that 
his  countrymen  took  a  decided  lead,  as  their  gallantry  well 
fitted  them  to  do,  in  these  romantic  enterprises  of  the  Middle 
Ages;  impressed  themselves  so  strongly  on  the  imagination 
of  the  East  as  the  crusading  nation  of  Europe,  that  their 
name  was  extended  to  all  the  warriors  of  Christendom.  He 
is  not  here  snatching  for  them  more  than  the  honour  which 

93 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

is  justly  theirs.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  noblest 
Crusaders,  from  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  to  St.  Lewis,  as  of 
others  who  did  most  to  bring  these  enterprises  about  as 
Pope  Urban  II.,  as  St.  Bernard,  were  French,  and  thus 
gave,  in  a  way  sufficiently  easy  to  explain,  an  appellation 
to  all.'^ 

To  the  Crusades  also,  and  to  the  intense  hatred  which 
they  roused  throughout  Christendom  against  the  Mahom- 
edan  infidels,  we  owe  '  miscreant,'  as  designating  one  to 
whom  the  vilest  principles  and  practices  are  ascribed.  A 
'  miscreant,'  at  the  first,  meant  simply  a  misbeliever.  The 
name  would  have  been  applied  as  freely,  and  with  as  little 
sense  of  injustice,  to  the  royal-hearted  Saladin  as  to  the 
vilest  wretch  that  fought  in  his  armies.  By  degrees,  how- 
ever, those  who  employed  it  tinged  it  more  and  more  with 
their  feeling  and  passion,  more  and  more  lost  sight  of  its 
primary  use,  until  they  used  it  of  any  whom  they  regarded 
with  feelings  of  abhorrence,  such  as  those  which  they  enter- 
tained for  an  infidel;  just  as  '  Samaritan  '  was  employed  by 
the  Jews  simply  as  a  term  of  reproach,  and  with  no  thought 
whether  he  on  whom  it  was  fastened  was  in  fact  one  of 
that  detested  race  or  not;  where  indeed  they  were  quite  sure 
that  he  was  not  (John  8:4-8).  'Assassin,'  also,  an  Arabic 
word  whose  story  you  will  find  no  difficulty  in  obtaining, — 
you  may  read  it  in  Gibbon,^" — connects  itself  with  a 
romantic  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Crusades. 

Various  explanations  of  '  cardinal  '  have  been  proposed, 
which  should  account  for  the  appropriation  of  this  name  to 
the  parochial  clergy  of  the  city  of  Rome  with  the  subor- 
dinate bishops  of  that  diocese.  This  appropriation  is  an 
outgrowth,  and  a  standing  testimony,  of  the  measureless 
assumptions  of  the  Roman  See.  One  of  the  favourite  com- 
parisons by  which  that  See  was  wont  to  set  out  its  relation 
of  superiority  to  all  other  Churches  of  Christendom  was 

94 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

this ;  it  was  the  hinge^  or  '  cardo/  on  which  all  the  rest  of 
the  Church,  as  the  door,  at  once  depended  and  turned.  It 
followed  presently  upon  this  that  the  clergy  of  Rome  were 
'  cardinales/  as  nearest  to,  and  most  closely  connected 
with,  him  who  was  thus  the  hinge,  or  '  cardo,'  of  all.^® 

*  Legend '  is  a  word  with  an  instructive  history.  We 
all  have  some  notion  of  what  at  this  day  a  '  legend  '  means. 
It  is  a  tale  which  is  not  true,  which,  however  historic  in  form, 
is  not  historic  in  fact,  claims  no  serious  belief  for  itself. 
It  was  quite  otherwise  once.  By  this  name  of  '  legends  * 
the  annual  commemorations  of  the  faith  and  patience  of 
God's  saints  in  persecution  and  death  were  originally 
called;  these  legends  in  this  title  which  they  bore  proclaim- 
ing that  they  were  worthy  to  be  read,  and  from  this  worthi- 
ness deriving  their  name.  At  a  later  day,  as  corruptions 
spread  through  the  Church,  these  *  legends '  grew,  in 
Hooker's  words,  '  to  be  nothing  else  but  heaps  of  frivolous 
and  scandalous  vanities,'  having  been  '  even  with  disdain 
thrown  out,  the  very  nests  which  bred  them  abhorring  them.' 
How  steeped  in  falsehood,  and  to  what  an  extent,  accord- 
ing to  Luther's  indignant  turn  of  the  word,  the  '  legends  ' 
(legende)  must  have  become  *  lyings  '  (liigende),  we  can 
best  guess,  when  we  measure  the  moral  forces  which  must 
have  been  at  work,  before  that  which  was  accepted  at  the 
first  as  '  worthy  to  be  read,'  should  have  been  felt  by  this 
very  name  to  announce  itself  as  most  unworthy,  as  belonging 
at  best  to  the  region  of  fable,  if  not  to  that  of  actual 
untruth. 

An  inquiry  into  the  pedigree  of  *  dunce  '  lays  open  to  us 
an  important  page  in  the  intellectual  history  of  Europe. 
Certain  theologians  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  termed  School- 
men; having  been  formed  and  trained  in  the  cloister  and 
cathedral  schools  which  Charlemagne  and  his  immediate 
successors  had  founded.     These  were  men  not  to  be  lightly 

95 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

spoken  of,  as  they  often  are  by  those  who  never  read  a  line 
of  their  works,  and  have  not  a  thousandth  part  of  their  wit ; 
who  moreover  little  guess  how  many  of  the  most  familiar 
words  which  they  employ,  or  misemploy,  have  descended  to 
them  from  these.  *  Real,'  *  virtual,'  '  entity,'  *  nonentity,' 
'equivocation,'  'objective,'  'subjective,'  with  many  more 
unknown  to  classical  Latin,  but  now  almost  necessities  to  us, 
were  first  coined  by  the  Schoolmen ;  and,  passing  over  from 
them  into  the  speech  of  others  more  or  less  interested  in 
their  speculations,  have  gradually  filtered  through  the  suc- 
cessive strata  of  society,  till  now  some  of  them  have  reached 
to  quite  the  lowest.  At  the  Revival  of  Learning,  however, 
their  works  fell  out  of  favour:  they  were  not  written  in 
classical  Latin:  the  forms  into  which  their  speculations 
were  thrown  were  often  unattractive ;  it  was  mainly  in  their 
authority  that  the  Roman  Church  found  support  for  her 
perilled  dogmas.  On  all  these  accounts  it  was  esteemed 
a  mark  of  intellectual  progress  to  have  broken  with  them, 
and  thrown  off  their  yoke.  Some,  however,  still  clung  to 
these  Schoolmen,  and  to  one  in  particular,  John  Duns 
Scotus,  the  most  illustrious  teacher  of  the  Franciscan  Order. 
Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  many  times  an  adherent  of  the 
old  learning  would  seek  to  strengthen  his  position  by  an 
appeal  to  its  famous  doctor,  familiarly  called  Duns;  while 
those  of  the  new  learning  would  contemptuously  rejoin, 
'  Oh,  you  are  a  Dunsman/  or  more  briefly,  '  You  are  a 
Duns/ — or,  '  This  is  a  piece  of  duncery  *j  and  inasmuch 
as  the  new  learning  was  ever  enlisting  more  and  more  of 
the  genius  and  scholarship  of  the  age  on  its  side,  the  title 
became  more  and  more  a  term  of  scorn.  *  Remember  ye 
not,'  says  Tyndale,  *  how  within  this  thirty  years  and  far 
less,  the  old  barking  curs.  Dunce's  disciples,  and  like  draff 
called  Scotists,  the  children  of  darkness,  raged  in  every 
pulpit  against  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew?  *    And  thus  from 

9Q 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

that  conflict  long  ago  extinct  between  the  old  and  the  new 
learning,  that  strife  between  the  medieval  and  the  modern 
theology,  we  inherit  *  dunce  '  and  '  duncery.'  The  lot  of 
Duns,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  been  a  hard  one,  who, 
whatever  his  merits  as  a  teacher  of  Christian  truth,  was 
assuredly  one  of  the  keenest  and  most  subtle-witted  of  men. 
He,  the  *  subtle  Doctor '  by  pre-eminence,  for  so  his 
admirers  called  him,  '  the  wittiest  of  the  school-divines,'  as 
Hooker  does  not  scruple  to  style  him,  could  scarcely  have 
anticipated,  and  did  not  at  all  deserve,  that  his  name  should 
be  turned  into  a  by-word  for  invincible  stupidity. 

This  is  but  one  example  of  the  singular  fortune  waiting 
uiDon  words.  We  have  another  of  a  parallel  injustice,  in 
the  use  which  '  maumetrye,'  a  contraction  of  *  Mahometry,' 
obtained  in  our  early  English.  Mahomedanism  being  the 
most  prominent  form  of  false  religion  with  which  our 
ancestors  came  in  contact,  '  maumetrye  '  was  used,  up  to 
and  beyond  the  Reformation,  to  designate  first  any  false 
religion,  and  then  the  worship  of  idols;  idolatry  being 
proper  to,  and  a  leading  feature  of,  most  of  the  false 
religions  of  the  world.  Men  did  not  pause  to  remember 
that  Mahomedanism  is  the  great  exception,  being  as  it  is 
a  protest  against  all  idol-worship  whatsoever;  so  that  it 
was  a  signal  injustice  to  call  an  idol  a  '  maumet '  or  a 
Mahomet,  and  idolatry  *  maumetrye.' 

A  misnomer  such  as  this  may  remind  us  of  the  immense 
importance  of  possessing  such  names  for  things  as  shall 
not  involve  or  suggest  an  error.  We  have  already  seen  this 
in  the  province  of  the  moral  life;  but  in  other  regions  also 
it  nearly  concerns  us.  Resuming,  as  words  do,  the  past, 
shaping  the  future,  how  important  it  is  that  significant 
facts  or  tendencies  in  the  world's  history  should  receive 
their  right  names.  It  is  a  corrupting  of  the  very  springs 
and  sources  of  knowledge,  when  we  bind  up  not  a  truth, 

97 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

but  an  error,  in  the  very  nomenclature  which  we  use.  It 
is  the  putting  of  an  obstacle  in  the  way,  which,  however 
imperceptibly,  is  yet  ever  at  work,  hindering  any  right 
apprehension  of  the  thing  which  has  been  thus  erroneously 
noted. 

Out  of  a  sense  of  this,  an  eminent  German  scholar  of 
the  last  century,  writing  On  the  Influence  of  Opinions  on 
Language,  did  not  stop  here,  nor  make  this  the  entire  title 
of  his  book,  but  added  another  and  further  clause — and  on 
the  Influence  of  Language  on  Opinions;'"  the  matter  which 
fulfils  the  promise  of  this  latter  clause  constituting  by  far 
the  most  interesting  and  original  portion  of  his  work:  for 
while  the  influence  of  opinions  on  words  is  so  little  called 
in  question,  that  the  assertion  of  it  sounds  almost  like  a 
truism,  this,  on  the  contrary,  of  words  on  opinions,  would 
doubtless  present  itself  as  a  novelty  to  many.  And  yet 
it  is  an  influence  which  has  been  powerfully  felt  in  every 
region  of  human  knowledge,  in  science,  in  art,  in  morals, 
in  theology.  The  reactive  energy  of  words,  not  merely  on 
the  passions  of  men  (for  that  of  course),  but  on  their 
opinions  calmly  and  deliberately  formed,  would  furnish  a 
very  curious  chapter  in  the  history  of  human  knowledge 
and  human  ignorance. 

Sometimes  words  with  no  fault  of  theirs,  for  they  did 
not  originally  involve  any  error,  will  yet  draw  some  error 
in  their  train;  and  of  that  error  will  afterwards  prove  the 
most  efl'ectual  bulwark  and  shield.  Let  me  instance — the 
author  just  referred  to  supplies  the  example — the  word 
'  crystal.'  The  strange  notion  concerning  the  origin  of  the 
thing,  current  among  the  natural  philosophers  of  antiquity, 
and  which  only  two  centuries  ago  Sir  Thomas  Browne 
thought  it  worth  while  to  place  first  and  foremost  among 
the  Vulgar  Errors  that  he  undertook  to  refute,  was  plainly 
traceable  to  a  confusion  occasioned  by  the  name.     Crystal, 

98 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

as  men  supposed,  was  ice  or  snow  which  had  undergone 
such  a  process  of  induration  as  wholly  and  for  ever  to  have 
lost  its  fluidity  :'^^  and  Pliny,  backing  up  one  mistake  by 
another,  affirmed  that  it  was  only  found  in  regions  of  ex- 
treme cold.  The  fact  is,  that  the  Greek  word  for  crystal 
originally  signified  ice;  but  after  a  while  was  also  imparted 
to  that  diaphanous  quartz  which  has  so  much  the  look  of 
ice,  and  which  alone  rve  call  by  this  name;  and  then  in  a 
little  while  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  two,  having  the 
same  name,  were  in  fact  the  same  substance;  and  this  mis- 
take it  took  ages  to  correct. 

Natural  history  abounds  in  legends.  In  the  word 
*  leopard  '  one  of  these  has  been  permanently  bound  up ; 
the  error,  having  first  given  birth  to  the  name,  being  after- 
wards itself  maintained  and  propagated  by  it.  The  leopard, 
as  is  well  known,  was  not  for  the  Greek  and  Latin  zoologists 
a  species  by  itself,  but  a  mongrel  birth  of  the  male  panther 
or  pard  and  the  lioness ;  and  in  *  leopard  '  or  *  lion-pard,' 
this  fabled  double  descent  is  expressed.  '  Cockatrice ' 
embodies  a  somewhat  similar  fable;  the  fable  however  in 
this  case  having  been  invented  to  account  for  the  name. 

If  was  Eichhorn  who  first  suggested  the  calling  of  a 
certain  group  of  languages,  which  stand  in  a  marked  contra- 
distinction to  the  Indo-European  or  Aryan  family,  by  the 
common  name  of  '  Semitic'  A  word  which  should  include 
all  these  was  wanting,  and  this  one  was  handy  and  has 
made  its  fortune ;  at  the  same  time  implying,  as  '  Semitic  ' 
does,  that  these  are  all  languages  spoken  by  races  which 
are  descended  from  Shem,  it  is  eminently  calculated  to  mis- 
lead. There  are  non-Semitic  races,  the  Phoenicians  for 
example,  which  have  spoken  a  Semitic  language;  there  are 
Semitic  races  which  have  not  spoken  one.  Against  '  Indo- 
European  '  the  same  objection  may  be  urged;  seeing  that 
several  languages  are  European,  that  is,  spoken  within  the 

99 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

limits  of  Europe,  as  the  Maltese,  the  Finnish,  the  Hungarian, 
the  Basque,  the  Turkish,  which  lie  altogether  outside  of 
this  group. 

*  Gothic  '  is  plainly  a  misnomer,  and  has  often  proved 
a  misleader  as  well,  when  applied  to  a  style  of  architecture 
which  belongs  not  to  one,  but  to  all  the  Germanic  tribes; 
which,  moreover,  did  not  come  into  existence  till  many  cen- 
turies after  any  people  called  Goths  had  ceased  from  the 
earth.  Those,  indeed,  who  first  called  this  medieval  archi- 
tecture '  Gothic,'  had  no  intention  of  ascribing  to  the  Goths 
the  first  invention  of  it,  however  this  language  may  seem 
now  to  bind  up  in  itself  an  assertion  of  the  kind.  *  Gothic  ' 
was  at  first  a  mere  random  name  of  contempt.  The  Goths, 
with  the  Vandals,  being  the  standing  representatives  of  the 
rude  in  manners  and  barbarous  in  taste,  the  critics  who 
would  fain  throw  scorn  on  this  architecture  as  compared 
with  that  classical  Italian  which  alone  seemed  worthy  of 
their  admiration,"®  called  it  *  Gothic,'  meaning  rude  and 
barbarous  thereby.  We  who  recognize  in  this  Gothic  archi- 
tecture the  most  wondrous  and  consummate  birth  of  genius 
in  one  region  of  art,  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  this  wa? 
once  a  mere  title  of  slight  and  scorn,  and  sometimes  wrongly 
assume  a  reference  in  the  word  to  the  people  among  whom 
first  it  arose. 

'  Classical '  and  '  romantic,'  names  given  to  opposing 
schools  of  literature  and  art,  contain  an  absurd  antithesis; 
and  either  say  nothing  at  all,  or  say  something  erroneous. 
*  Revival  of  Learning  '  is  a  phrase  only  partially  true  when 
applied  to  that  mighty  intellectual  movement  in  Western 
Europe  which  marked  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth.  A  revival  there  might  be,  and  indeed 
there  was,  of  Greek  learning  at  that  time;  but  there  could 
not  be  properly  affirmed  a  revival  of  Latin,  inasmuch  as  it 
had  never  been  dead;  or,  even  as  those  who  dissent  from  this 

100 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

statement  must  own,  had  revived  nearly  two  centuries  before. 

*  Renaissance/  applied  in  France  to  the  new  direction  which 
art  took  about  the  age  of  Francis  the  First,  is  another 
question-begging  word.  Very  many  would  entirely  deny  that 
the  bringing  back  of  an  antique  pagan  spirit,  and  of  pagan 
forms   as  the   utterance  of  this,  into  Christian  art  was  a 

*  renaissance  '  or  new  birth  of  it  at  all. 

But  inaccuracy  in  naming  may  draw  after  it  more  serious 
mischief  in  regions  more  important.  Nowhere  is  accuracy 
more  vital  than  in  words  having  to  do  with  the  chief  facts 
and  objects  of  our  faith;  for  such  v/ords,  as  Coleridge  has 
observed,  are  never  inert,  but  constantly  exercise  an  immense 
reactive  influence,  whether  men  know  it  or  not,  on  such 
as  use  them,  or  often  hear  them  used  by  others.  The  so- 
called  *  Unitarians,'  claiming  by  this  name  of  theirs  to  be 
asserters  of  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  claim  that  which 
belongs  to  us  by  far  better  right  than  to  them;  which, 
indeed,  belonging  of  fullest  right  to  us,  does  not  properly 
belong  to  them  at  all.  I  should,  therefore,  without  any 
intention  of  offence,  refuse  the  name  to  them;  just  as  I 
should  decline,  by  calling  those  of  the  Roman  Obedience 
'  Catholics,'  to  give  up  the  whole  question  at  issue  between 
them  and  us.  So,  also,  were  I  one  of  them,  I  should  never, 
however  convenient  it  might  sometimes  prove,  consent  to 
call  the  great  religious  movement  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth 
century  the  '  Reformation.'  Such  in  our  esteem  it  was,  and 
in  the  deepest,  truest  sense;  a  shaping  anew  of  things  that 
were  amiss  in  the  Church.  But  how  any  who  esteem  it  a 
disastrous,  and,  on  their  parts  who  brought  it  about,  a  most 
guilty  schism,  can  consent  to  call  it  by  this  name,  has  always 
surprised  me. 

Let  me  urge  on  you  here  the  importance  of  seeking  in 
every  case  to  acquaint  yourselves  with  the  circumstances 
under  which  any  body  of  men  who  have  played  an  important 

101 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

part  in  history,  above  all  in  the  history  of  your  own  land, 
obtained  the  name  by  which  they  were  afterwards  them- 
selves willing  to  be  known,  or  which  was  used  for  their 
designation  by  others.  This  you  may  do  as  a  matter  of  his- 
torical inquiry,  and  keeping  entirely  aloof  in  spirit  from 
the  bitterness,  the  contempt,  the  calumny,  out  of  which 
very  frequently  these  names  were  first  imposed.  What- 
ever of  scorn  or  wrong  may  have  been  at  work  in  them  who 
coined  or  gave  currency  to  the  name,  the  name  itself  can 
never  without  serious  loss  be  neglected  by  any  who  would 
truly  understand  the  moral  significance  of  the  thing;  f©r 
always  something,  oftentimes  much,  may  be  learned  from  it. 
Learn,  then,  about  each  one  of  these  names  which  you  meet 
in  your  studies,  whether  it  was  one  that  men  gave  to  them- 
selves ;  or  one  imposed  on  them  by  others,  but  never  recog- 
nized by  them;  or  one  that,  first  imposed  by  others,  was 
yet  in  course  of  time  admitted  and  allowed  by  themselves. 
We  have  examples  in  all  these  kinds.  Thus  the  '  Gnostics  ' 
call  themselves  such;  the  name  was  of  their  own  devising, 
and  declared  that  whereof  they  made  their  boast;  it  was 
the  same  with  the  '  Cavaliers  '  of  our  Civil  War.  '  Quaker,' 
*  Puritan,'  *  Roundhead,'  were  all,  on  the  contrary,  names 
devised  by  others,  and  never  accepted  by  those  to  whom 
they  were  attached.  To  the  third  class  *  Whig  '  and  *  Tory  ' 
belong.  These  were  nicknames  originally  of  bitterest  party 
hate,  withdrawn  from  their  earlier  use,  and  fastened  by 
two  political  bodies  in  England  each  on  the  other,^*^  the 
'  Whig  '  being  properly  a  Scottish  covenanter,  the  '  Tory  ' 
an  Irish  bog-trotting  freebooter;  while  yet  these  nicknames 
in  tract  of  time  so  lost  and  let  go  what  was  offensive  about 
them,  that  in  the  end  they  were  adopted  by  the  very  parties 
themselves.  Not  otherwise  the  German  *  Lutherans  '  were 
originally  so  called  by  their  antagonists.^^  '  Methodist,' 
in  like  manner,  was  a  title  not  first  taken  by  the  followers 

102 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

of  Wesley,  but  fastened  on  them  by  others,  while  yet  they 
have  been  subsequently  willing,  though  with  a  certain 
reserve,  to  accept  and  to  be  known  by  it.  '  Momiers  '  or 
'  Mummers,'  a  name  in  itself  of  far  greater  offence,  has 
obtained  in  Switzerland  something  of  the  same  allowance. 
Exactly  in  the  same  way  '  Capuchin  '  was  at  first  a  jesting 
nickname,  given  by  the  gamins  in  the  streets  to  that  re- 
formed branch  of  the  Franciscans  which  afterwards  accepted 
it  as  their  proper  designation.  It  was  provoked  by  the 
peaked  and  pointed  hood  ('  cappuccio,'  *  cappucino  ')  which 
they  wore.  The  story  of  the  '  Gueux,'  or  '  Beggars,'  of 
Holland,  and  how  they  appropriated  their  name,  is  familiar, 
as  I  doubt  not,  to  many. 

A  '  Premier  '  or  *  Prime  Minister,'  though  unknown  to 
the  law  of  England,  is  at  present  one  of  the  institutions 
of  the  country.  The  acknowledged  leadership  of  one  mem- 
ber in  the  Government  is  a  fact  of  only  gradual  growth 
in  our  constitutional  history,  but  one  in  which  the  nation 
has  entirely  acquiesced, — nor  is  there  anything  invidious 
now  in  the  title.  But  in  what  spirit  the  Parliamentary 
Opposition,  having  coined  the  term,  applied  it  first  to  Sir 
Robert  Walpole,  is  plain  from  some  words  of  his  spoken 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  Feb.  11,  1742:  '  Having  invested 
me  with  a  kind  of  mock  dignity,  and  styled  me  a  Prime 
Minister,  they  [the  Opposition]  impute  to  me  an  unpardon- 
able abuse  of  the  chimerical  authority  which  they  only 
created  and  conferred.' 

Now  of  these  titles  some  undoubtedly,  like  '  Capuchin  ' 
instanced  just  now,  stand  in  no  very  intimate  connexion 
with  those  who  bear  them;  and  such  names,  though  seldom 
without  their  instruction,  yet  plainly  are  not  so  instructive 
as  others,  in  which  the  innermost  heart  of  the  thing  named 
so  utters  itself,  that,  having  mastered  the  name,  we  have 
placed  ourselves  at  tlie  central  point,  from  whence  best  to 

103 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

master  everything  besides.  It  is  thus  with  *  Gnostic  '  and 
*  Gnosticism  ' ;  in  the  prominence  given  to  gnosis  or  knowl- 
edge, as  opposed  to  faith,  lies  the  key  to  the  whole  system. 
The  Greek  Church  has  loved  ever  to  style  itself  the  Holy 
'  Orthodox  '  Church,  the  Latin,  the  Holy  *  Catholic  '  Church. 
Follow  up  the  thoughts  which  these  words  suggest.  What 
a  world  of  teaching  they  contain;  above  all  when  brought 
into  direct  comparison  and  opposition  one  with  the  other. 
How  does  all  which  is  innermost  in  the  Greek  and  Roman 
mind  unconsciously  reveal  itself  here;  the  Greek  Church 
regarding  as  its  chief  blazon  that  its  speculation  is  right, 
the  Latin  that  its  empire  is  universal.  Nor  indeed  is  it 
merely  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches  which  utter  them- 
selves here,  but  Greece  and  Rome  in  their  deepest  distinc- 
tions, as  these  existed  from  their  earliest  times.  The  key 
to  the  whole  history.  Pagan  as  well  as  Christian,  of  each 
is  in  these  words.  We  can  understand  how  the  one  estab- 
lished a  dominion  in  the  region  of  the  mind  which  shall 
never  be  overthrown,  the  other  founded  an  empire  in  the 
world  whose  visible  effects  shall  never  be  done  away.  This 
is  an  illustrious  example;  but  I  am  bold  to  affirm  that,  in 
their  degree,  all  parties,  religious  and  political,  are  known 
by  names  that  will  repay  study;  by  names,  to  understand 
which  will  bring  us  far  to  an  understanding  of  their 
strength  and  their  weakness,  their  truth  and  their  error, 
the  idea  and  intention  according  to  which  they  wrought. 
Thus  run  over  in  thought  a  few  of  those  which  have  risen 
up  in  England.  '  Puritans,'  '  Fifth-^Ionarchy  men,'  '  Seek- 
ers,' *  Levellers,'  '  Independents,'  *  Friends,'  '  Rationalists,' 
'  Latitudinarians,'  '  Freethinkers,'  these  titles,  v/ith  many 
more,  have  each  its  significance;  and  would  you  get  to  the 
heart  of  things,  and  thoroughly  understand  what  any  of 
these  schools  and  parties  intended,  you  must  first  under- 
stand what  they  were  called.     From  this  as  from  a  central 

104 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

point  you  must  start;  even  as  you  must  bring  back  to  this 
whatever  further  knowledge  you  may  acquire ;  putting  your 
later  gains,  if  possible,  in  subordination  to  the  name;  at  all 
events  in  connexion  and  relation  with  it. 

You  will  often  be  able  to  glean  information  from  names, 
such  as,  if  not  always  important,  will  yet  rarely  fail  to 
be  interesting  and  instructive  in  its  way.  Thus  what  a 
record  of  inventions,  how  much  of  the  past  history  of  com- 
merce do  they  embody  and  preserve.  The  '  magnet '  has 
its  name  from  Magnesia,  a  district  of  Thessaly;  this  same 
Magnesia,  or  else  another  like-named  district  in  Asia  Minor, 
yielding  the  medicinal  earth  so  called.  '  Artesian  '  wells 
are  from  the  province  of  Artois  in  France,  where  they 
were  long  in  use  before  introduced  elsewhere.  The  '  bald- 
achin '  or  *  baudekin  '  is  from  Baldacco,  the  Italian  form 
of  the  name  of  the  city  of  Bagdad,  from  whence  the  costly 
silk  of  this  canopy  originally  came.  The  *  bayonet '  sug- 
gests concerning  itself,  though  perhaps  wrongly,  that  it  was 
first  made  at  Bayonne — the  '  bilbo,'  a  finely  tempered 
Spanish  blade,  at  Bilbao — the  '  carronade  '  at  the  Carron 
Ironworks  in  Scotland — '  worsted  '  that  it  was  spun  at  a 
village  not  far  from  Norwich — '  sarcenet '  that  it  is  a  Sara- 
cen manufacture — '  cambric  '  that  it  reached  us  from  Cam- 
bray — '  copper  '  that  it  drew  its  name  from  Cyprus,  so 
richly  furnished  with  mines  of  this  metal — *  fustian  '  from 
Fostat,  a  suburb  of  Cairo — *  frieze  '  from  Friesland — *  silk  ' 
or  *  sericum '  from  the  land  of  the  Seres  or  Chinese — 
'  damask  '  from  Damascus — '  cassimere  '  or  *  kersemere  ' 
from  Cashmere — '  arras  '  from  a  town  like-named — '  duffel,* 
too,  from  a  town  near  Antwerp  so  called,  which  Wordsworth 
has  immortalized — '  shalloon  '  from  Chalons — '  j  ane  '  from 
Genoa — *  gauze  '  from  Gaza.  The  fashion  of  the  *  cravat ' 
was  borrowed  from  the  Croats,  or  Crabats,  as  this  wild 
irregular   soldiery   of  the   Thirty  Years'   War  used  to   be 

105 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

called.  The  *  biggen/  a  plain  cap  often  mentioned  by  our 
early  writers^  was  first  worn  by  the  Beguines^  communities 
of  pietist  women  in  the  Low  Comitries  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. The  '  dalmatic  '  was  a  garment  whose  fashion  was 
taken  to  be  borrowed  from  Dalmatia.  (See  Marriott.) 
England  now  sends  her  calicoes  and  muslins  to  India  and 
the  East;  yet  these  words  give  standing  witness  that  we 
once  imported  them  from  thence ;  for  '  calico  '  is  from 
Calicut^  a  town  on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  and  *  muslin  ' 
from   Mossul,   a   city   in   Asiatic   Turkey.      *  Cordwain '   or 

*  cordovan  '  is  from  Cordova — *  delf  '  from  Delft — '  indigo  ' 
(indicum)  from  India — '  gamboge  '  from  Cambodia — the 
'  agate  '  from  a  Sicilian  river,  Achates — the  '  turquoise  ' 
from  Turkey — ^the  *  chalcedony  '  or  onyx  from  Chalcedon — 

*  jet '  from  the  river  Gages  in  Lycia,  where  this  black  stone 
is  found.  *  Rhubarb  '  is  a  corruption  of  Rha  barbarum, 
the  root  from  the  savage  banks  of  the  Rha  or  Volga — 
'  jalap  '  is  from  Jalapa,  a  town  in  Mexico — '  tobacco  '  from 
the  island  Tobago — '  malmsey  '  from  Malvasia,  for  long  a 
flourishing  city  in  the  Morea — '  sherry,'  or  *  sherris  '  as 
Shakespeare  wrote  it,  is  from  Xeres — '  macassar  '  oil  from 
a  small  Malay  kingdom  so  named  in  the  Eastern  Archi- 
pelago— '  dittany  '  from  the  mountain  Dicte,  in  Crete — 
'parchment'  from  Pergamum — 'majolica'  from  Majorca 
— '  faience  '  from  the  town  named  in  Italian  Faenza.  A 
little  town  in  Essex  gave  its  name  to  the  '  tilbury  ' ;  another, 
in  Bavaria,  to  the  '  landau.'  The  *  bezant '  is  a  coin  of 
Byzantium;  the  'guinea'  was  originally  coined  (in  1663) 
of  gold  brought  from  the  African  coast  so  called ;  the  pound 
'  sterling  '  was  a  certain  weight  of  bullion  according  to  the 
standard  of  the  Easterlings,  or  Eastern  merchants  from 
the  Hanse  Towns  on  the  Baltic.  The  '  spaniel '  is  from 
Spain;  the  '  barb  '  is  a  steed  from  Barbary;  the  pony  called 
a   '  galloway  '   from  the  county   of   Galloway  in  Scotland. 

106 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

The  *  pheasant '  reached  us  from  the  banks  of  the  Phasis ; 
the  '  bantam  '  from  a  Dutch  settlement  in  Java  so  called ; 
the  '  canary,'  bird  and  wine,  both  from  the  island  so  named ; 
the  'peach'  (persica)  declares  itself  a  Persian  fruit; 
'  currants  '  derived  their  name  from  Corinth,  whence  these 
small  dried  grapes  were  mostly  shipped ;  the  '  damson  '  is 
the  '  damascene,'  or  plum  of  Damascus ;  the  *  bergamot ' 
pear  is  named  from  Bergamo  in  Italy ;  the  '  quince  '  has 
undergone  so  many  changes  in  its  progress  through  Italian 
and  French  to  us,  that  it  hardly  retains  any  trace  of  Cydon 
(malum  Cydonium),  a  town  of  Crete,  from  which  it  was 
supposed  to  proceed.  '  Solecisms,'  if  I  may  find  room  for 
them  here,  are  from  Soloe,  an  Athenian  colony  in  Cilicia, 
whose  members  soon  forgot  the  Attic  refinement  of  speech, 
and  became  notorious  for  the  ungrammatical  Greek  which 
they  talked.  Lastly,  the  '  tarantula  '  (It.  *  tarantola  ')  is 
said  to  be  common  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Taranto. 

And  as  things  thus  keep  record  in  the  names  which  they 
bear  of  the  quarters  from  which  they  reached  us,  so  also 
will  they  often  do  of  the  persons,  who,  as  authors,  inventors, 
or  discoverers,  or  in  some  other  way,  stood  in  near  connexion 
with  them.  A  collection  in  any  language  of  all  the  names 
of  persons  which  have  since  become  names  of  things — from 
nomina  apellativa  have  become  nomina  realia — would  be 
very  curious  and  interesting.  I  will  enumerate  a  few. 
Where  the  matter  is  not  familiar  to  you,  it  will  not  be 
unprofitable  to  work  back  from  the  word  or  thing  to  the 
person,  and  to  learn  more  accurately  the  connexion  between 
them. 

To  begin  with  mythical  antiquity — ^the  Chimaera  has 
given  us  '  chimerical,'  Hermes  *  hermetic,'  Pan  '  panic,' 
Paean,  being  a  name  of  Apollo,  the  '  peony,'  Tantalus  '  to 
tantalize,'  Hercules  '  herculean,'  Proteus  '  protean,'  Vulcan 
*  volcano '   and   *  volcanic,'    and  Daedalus   '  daedale,'   if   this 

107 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

word,  which  Spenser,  Wordsworth,  and  Keats  have  all  used, 
may  find  allowance  with  us.  The  demi-god  Atlas  figures 
with  a  world  upon  his  shoulders  in  the  title-page  of  some 
early  works  on  geography;  and  has  probably  in  this  way 
lent  to  our  map-books  their  name.  Gordius,  the  Phrygian 
king  who  tied  the  famous  '  gordian  '  knot  which  Alexander 
cut,  will  supply  a  natural  transition  from  mythical  to  his- 
torical. The  *  daric,'  a  Persian  gold  coin,  very  much  of 
the  same  value  as  our  own  rose  noble,  had  its  name  from 
Darius.  Mausolus,  a  king  of  Caria,  has  left  us  '  mauso- 
leum,' Academus  '  academy,'  Epicurus  '  epicure,'  Philip  of 
Macedon  a  *  philippic,'  being  such  a  discourse  as  Demos- 
thenes once  launched  against  the  enemy  of  Greece,  and 
Cicero  'cicerone.'  Mithridates,  who  had  made  himself 
poison-proof,  gave  us  the  now  forgotten  '  mithridate  '  (Dry- 
den)  for  antidote;  as  from  Hippocrates  we  derived  '  hip- 
pocras,'  or  *  ypocras,'  often  occurring  in  our  early  writers, 
being  a  wine  supposed  to  be  mingled  after  the  great  physi- 
cian's receipt.  Gentius,  a  king  of  Illyria,  gave  his  name 
to  the  plant  '  gentian,'  having  been,  it  is  said,  the  first  to 
discover  its  virtues.^"  Glaubers,  who  has  bequeathed  his 
salts  to  us,  was  a  Dutch  chemist  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
A  grammar  used  to  be  called  a  *  donat '  or  '  donet ' 
(Chaucer),  from  Donatus,  a  Roman  grammarian  of  the 
fourth  century,  whose  Latin  grammar  held  its  place  as  a 
school-book  during  a  large  part  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Oth- 
man,  more  than  any  other  the  grounder  of  the  Turkish 
dominion  in  Europe,  reappears  in  our  *  Ottoman  ' ;  and  Ter- 
tullian,  strangely  enough,  in  the  Spanish  '  tertulia.'  The 
beggar  Lazarus  has  given  us  '  lazar  '  and  '  lazaretto  ' ; 
Veronica  and  the  legend  connected  with  her  name,  a 
'  vernicle,'  being  a  napkin  with  the  Saviour's  face  impressed 
upon  it.  Simon  Magus  gave  us  '  simony  ' ;  this,  however,  as 
we  understand  it  now,  is  not  a  precise  reproduction  of  his 

108 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

sin  as  recorded  in  Scripture.  A  common  fossil  shell  is 
called  an  '  ammonite  '  from  the  fanciful  resemblance  to  the 
twisted  horns  of  Jupiter  Ammon  which  was  traced  in  it; 
Ammon  again  appearing  in  '  ammonia.'  Our  *  pantaloons  * 
are  from  St.  Pantaleone;  he  was  the  patron  saint  of  the 
Venetians,  who  therefore  very  commonly  received  Panta- 
leon  as  their  Christian  name;  it  was  from  them  transferred 
to  a  Venetian  garment  consisting  of  hose  reaching  up  to 
the  waist.  '  Dunce/  as  we  have  seen,  is  derived  from  Duns 
Scotus.  To  come  to  more  modern  times,  and  not  paus- 
ing at  Ben  Jonson's  '  chaucerisms/  Bishop  Hall's  *  scogan- 
isms/  from  Scogan,  Edward  the  Fourth's  jester,  or  his 
*  aretinisms,'  from  Aretin ;  these  being  probably  not  intended 
even  by  their  authors  to  endure;  a  Roman  cobbler  named 
Pasquin  has  given  us  the  *  pasquil '  or  '  pasquinade.'  Der- 
rick was  the  common  hangman  in  the  time  of  James  I. ;  he 
bequeathed  his  name  to  the  crane  used  for  the  lifting  and 
moving  of  heavy  weights.  *  Patch,'  a  name  of  contempt 
not  unfrequent  in  Shakespeare,  was,  it  is  said,  the  proper 
name  of  a  favourite  fool  of  Cardinal  Wolsey's.  Colonel 
Negus  in  Queen  Anne's  time  is  reported  to  have  first  mixed 
the  beverage  which  goes  by  his  name.  Lord  Orrery  was  the 
first  for  whom  an  '  orrery  '  was  constructed ;  Lord  Spencer 
first  wore,  or  first  brought  into  fashion,  a  *  spencer  ' ;  and  the 
Duke  of  Roquelaure  the  cloak  which  still  bears  his  name. 
Dahl,  a  Swede,  introduced  from  Mexico  in  1789  the  culti- 
vation of  the  *  dahlia  ' ;  the  *  fuchsia  '  is  named  after  Fuchs, 
a  German  botanist  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  the  *  mag- 
nolia '  after  Magnol,  a  distinguished  French  botanist  of 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth ;  while  the  *  camellia '  was 
introduced  into  Europe  from  Japan  in  1731  by  Camelli, 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus ;  the  '  shaddock '  by  Cap- 
tain Shaddock,  who  first  transplanted  this  fruit  from  the 
West  Indies.     In  *  quassia  '  we  have  the  name  of  a  negro 

109 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

sorcerer  of  Surinam^  who  in  1730  discovered  its  properties, 
and  after  whom  it  was  called.  An  unsavoury  jest  of 
Vespasian  has  attached  his  name  in  French  to  an  unsavoury 
spot.  *  Nicotine,'  the  alkaloid  drawn  from  tobacco,  goes 
back  for  its  designation  to  Nicot,  a  physician^  who  first 
introduced  the  tobacco-plant  to  the  general  notice  of  Eu- 
rope. The  Gobelins  were  a  family  so  highly  esteemed  in 
France  that  the  manufactory  of  tapestry  which  they  had 
established  in  Paris  did  not  drop  their  name,  even  after 
it  had  been  purchased  and  was  conducted  by  the  State.  A 
French  Protestant  refugee,  Tabinet,  first  made  *  tabinet ' 
in  Dublin;  another  Frenchman,  Goulard,  a  physician  of 
Montpellier,  gave  his  name  to  the  soothing  lotion,  not 
unknown  in  our  nurseries.  The  '  tontine  '  was  conceived 
by  Tonti,  an  Italian;  another  Italian,  Galvani,  first  noted 
the  phenomena  of  animal  electricity  or  *  galvanism ' ;  while 
a  third,  Volta,  lent  a  title  to  the  *  voltaic  '  battery.  Dolo- 
mieu,  a  French  geologist,  first  called  attention  in  1794  to 
a  peculiar  mineral  in  Eastern  Tyrol,  called  '  dolomite  '  after 
him.  Colonel  Martinet  was  a  French  officer  appointed  by 
Louvois  as  an  army  inspector;  one  who  did  his  work  excel- 
lently well,  but  has  left  a  name  bestowed  often  since  on 
mere  military  pedants.  *  Macintosh,'  '  doily,'  '  brougham,' 
'  hansom,'  '  to  mesmerize,'  '  to  macadamize,'  '  to  burke,'  *  to 
boycott,'  are  all  names  of  persons  or  words  formed  from 
their  names,  and  then  transferred  to  things  or  actions,  on 
the  ground  of  some  sort  of  connexion  between  the  one  and 
the  other.®^  To  these  I  may  add  '  guillotine,'  though  Dr. 
Guillotin  did  not  invent  this  instrument  of  death,  even  as 
it  is  a  baseless  legend  that  he  died  by  it.  He  strongly 
advocated  the  use  of  it,  and  thus  it  happened  that  it  was 
called  after  him. 

Nor  less  shall  we  find  history,  at  all  events  literary  his- 
tory, in   the   noting  of  the   popular   characters    in   books, 

110 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

who  have  supplied  words  that  have  passed  into  common 
speech.  Thus  from  Homer  we  have  '  mentor  '  for  a  monitor ; 
'  stentorian  '  for  loud-voiced ;  and  inasmuch  as,  with  all  of 
Hector's  nobleness,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  big  talk 
about  him,  he  has  given  us  '  to  hector  '  f*  while  the  medieval 
romances  about  the  siege  of  Troy  ascribe  to  Pandarus 
that  shameful  traffic  out  of  which  his  name  has  passed  into 
the  words  *  to  pander  '  and  *  panderism.'  *  Rodomontade  ' 
is  from  Rodomonte,  a  hero  in  the  '  Orlando  Furioso  '  of 
Ariosto;  who  yet,  it  must  be  owned,  does  not  bluster  and 
boast,   as  the  word  founded  on  his  name  seems  to  imply. 

*  Thrasonical '  is   from   Thraso,  the  braggart  in  Terence's 

*  Eunuch.'  Cervantes  has  given  us  '  quixotic  ';  Swift  '  lilli- 
putian  ' ;  to  Moliere  the  French  language  owes  *  tartuife  '  and 

*  tartuiferie.'  *  Reynard  '  with  us  is  a  sort  of  duplicate  for 
fox,  while  in  French  '  renard  '  has  quite  supplanted  the  old 
'  goupil,'  being  originally  no  more  than  the  proper  name  of 
the  fox-hero,  the  vulpine  Ulysses,  in  that  famous  beast- 
epic  of  the  Middle  Ages,  '  Reynart  the  Foxe,'  translated 
and  printed  by  William  Caxton.  The  immense  popularity 
of  this  poem  we  gather  from  many  evidences — from  none 
more  clearly  than  from  this.  '  Chanticleer  '  is  the  name  of 
the  cock,  and  '  Bruin  '  of  the  bear  in  the  same  poem.^^ 
These  have  not  made  fortune  to  the  same  extent  of  actually 
putting  out  names  which  before  existed,  but  contest  the 
right  of  existence  with  them. 

Occasionally  a  name  will  embody  and  give  permanence 
to  an  error ;  as  when  in  '  America  '  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World,  which  belonged  to  Columbus,  is  ascribed  to 
another  eminent  discoverer,  but  one  who  had  no  title  to  this 
honour,  even  as  he  was  entirely  guiltless  of  any  attempt 
to  usurp  it  for  himself.^^  Our  *  turkeys  '  are  not  from 
Turkey,  as  was  assumed  by  those  who  so  called  them,  but 
from  that  New  World  where  alone  they  are  native.     This 

111 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

error  the  French  in  another  shape  repeat  with  their  '  dinde/ 
originally  '  poule  d'Inde,'  or  Indian  fowl.  There  lies  in 
'  gipsy/  or  Egyptian^  the  assumption  that  Egypt  was  the 
original  home  of  this  strange  people ;  as  was  widely  believed 
when  they  made  their  first  appearance  in  Europe  early  in 
the  fifteenth  century.  That  this^  however,  was  a  mistake, 
their  language  leaves  no  doubt;  proclaiming  as  it  does  that 
they  are  wanderers  from  a  more  distant  East,  an  outcast 
tribe  from  Hindostan.  *  Bohemians/  as  they  are  called  by 
the  French,  testifies  to  a  similar  error,  to  the  fact  that  at 
their  first  apparition  in  Western  Europe  they  were  sujd- 
posed  by  the  common  people  in  France  to  be  the  expelled 
Hussites  of  Bohemia. 

Where  words  have  not  embodied  an  error,  it  will  yet 
sometimes  happen  that  the  sound  or  spelling  will  to  us  sug- 
gest one.  Against  such  in  these  studies  it  will  be  well  to 
be  on  our  guard.  Thus  there  has  been  a  stage  in  most  boys' 
geographical  knowledge,  when  they  have  taken  for  granted 
that  *  Jutland  '  was  so  called,  not  because  it  was  the  land  of 
the  Jutes,  but  on  account  of  its  jutting  out  into  the  sea 
in  so  remarkable  a  manner.  Who  is  there  that  has  not  men- 
tally put  the  Gulf  of  Lyons  in  some  connexion  with  the  city 
of  the  same  name.^  W^e  may  be  surprised  that  the  Gulf 
should  have  drawn  its  title  from  a  city  so  remote  and  so 
far  inland,  but  we  accept  the  fact  notwithstanding:  the 
river  Rhone,  flowing  by  the  one,  and  disemboguing  in  the 
other,  seems  to  offer  to  us  a  certain  link  of  connexion. 
There  is  indeed  no  true  connexion  at  all  between  the  two. 
In  old  texts  this  Gulf  is  generally  called  Sinus  Gallicusj 
in  the  fourteenth  century  a  few  writers  began  to  call  it  Sinus 
Leonis,  the  Gulf  of  the  Lion,  possibly  from  the  fierceness 
of  its  winds  and  waves,  but  at  any  rate  by  a  name  having 
nothing  to  do  with  Lyons  on  the  Rhone.  The  oak,  in 
Greek  Spy's,   plays  no  inconsiderable  part  in  the  Ritual  of 

112 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

the  Druids ;  it  is  not  therefore  wonderful  if  most  students 
at  one  time  of  their  lives  have  put  the  two  in  etymological 
relation.  The  Greeks,  who  with  so  characteristic  a  vanity 
assumed  that  the  key  to  the  meaning  of  words  in  all  lan- 
guages was  to  be  found  in  their  own,  did  this  of  course. 
So,  too,  there  have  not  been  wanting  those  who  have  traced 
in  the  name  *  Jove  '  a  heathen  reminiscence  of  the  great 
name  now  miswritten  '  Jehovah  ' ;  while  yet,  however  spe- 
cious this  may  seem,  on  closer  scrutiny  the  words  declare 
that  they  have  no  connexion  with  one  another,  any  more 
than  '  lapetus  '  and  *  Japheth,'  or,  I  may  add,  than  *  God  ' 
and  *  good,'  which  yet  by  an  honourable  moral  instinct  men 
can  hardly  refrain  from  putting  into  an  etymological  rela- 
tion with  each  other. 

Sometimes  a  falsely-assumed  derivation  of  a  word  has 
reacted  upon  and  modified  its  spelling.  Thus  it  may  have 
been  with  '  hurricane.'  In  the  tearing  up  and  hurrying  away 
of  the  canes  in  the  sugar  plantations  by  this  West-Indian 
tornado,  many  have  seen  an  explanation  of  the  name;  just 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Latin  '  calamitas  '  has  been  derived 
from  *  calamus,'  the  stalk  of  the  corn.  In  both  cases  the 
etymology  is  faulty ;  '  hurricane,'  originally  a  Carib  word, 
is  only  a  transplanting  into  our  tongue  of  the  Spanish 
*  huracan.' 

It  is  a  signal  evidence  of  the  conservative  powers  of 
language,  that  we  may  continually  trace  in  speech  the  record 
of  customs  and  states  of  society  which  have  now  passed 
so  entirely  away  as  to  survive  in  these  words  alone.  For 
example,  a  *  stipulation  '  or  agreement  is  so  called,  as  many 
affirm,  from  *  stipula,'  a  straw ;  and  tells  of  a  Roman  cus- 
tom, that  when  two  persons  would  make  a  mutual  engage- 
ment with  one  another,^ ^  they  would  break  a  straw  between 
them.  We  all  know  what  fact  of  English  history  is  laid 
up   in  *  curfew,'  or  *  couvre-feu.'     The  *  limner,'  or  '  illu- 

113 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

miner/  for  so  we  find  the  word  in  Fuller,  throws  us  back 
on  a  time  when  the  illumination  of  manuscripts  was  a 
leading  occupation  of  the  painter.  By  '  lumber/  we  are 
reminded  that  Lombards  were  the  first  pawnbrokers,  even 
as  they  were  the  first  bankers,  in  England :  a  '  lumber  '-room 
being  a  '  lombard  '-room,  or  a  room  where  the  pawnbroker 
stored  his  pledges. ^^  Nor  need  I  do  more  than  remind 
you  that  in  our  common  phrase  of  '  signing  our  name,' 
we  preserve  a  record  of  a  time  when  such  first  rudiments 
of  education  as  the  power  of  writing,  were  the  portion  of 
so  few,  that  it  was  not  as  now  an  exception,  but  the  custom, 
of  most  persons  to  make  their  mark  or  '  sign  ' ;  great  barons 
and  kings  themselves  not  being  ashamed  to  set  this  sign 
or  cross  to  the  weightiest  documents.  To  '  subscribe  '  the 
name  would  more  accurately  express  what  now  we  do.  As 
often  as  we  term  arithmetic  the  science  of  calculation,  we 
implicitly  allude  to  that  rudimental  stage  in  this  science, 
when  pebbles  (calculi)  were  used,  as  now  among  savage 
tribes  they  often  are,  to  help  the  practice  of  counting;  the 
Greeks  made  the  same  use  of  one  word  of  theirs  (j/^7;^t{etv) 
while  in  another  (Tre/xTra^etv)  they  kept  record  of  a  period 
when  the  five  fingers  were  so  employed.  *  Expend,' 
'  expense,'  tell  us  that  money  was  once  weighed  out  (Gen. 
23:16),  not  counted  out  as  now;  '  pecunia,'  '  peculatus,' 
M.E.  *  feo,'  O.E.  *  feoh,'  money,  cattle  (cp.  German  *  Vieh  ') 
keep  record  all  of  a  time  when  cattle  were  the  main  circu- 
lating medium.  In  *  library  '  we  preserve  the  fact  that 
books  were  once  written  on  the  bark  (liber)  of  trees;  in 
*  volume,'  that  they  were  mostly  rolls ;  in  *  paper,'  that  the 
Egyptian  papyrus,  '  the  paper-reeds  by  the  brooks,'  fur- 
nished at  one  time  the  ordinary  material  on  which  they 
were  written. 

Names  thus  so  often  surviving  things,  we  have  no  right 
to  turn  an  etjmiology  into  an  argument.     There  was  a  nota- 

114 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

ble  attempt  to  do  this  in  the  controversy  so  earnestly  carried 
on  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches^  concerning  the 
bread,  whether  it  should  be  leavened  or  unleavened,  that 
was  used  at  the  Table  of  the  Lord.  Those  of  the  Eastern 
Church  constantly  urged  that  the  Greek  word  for  bread 
(and  in  Greek  was  the  authoritative  record  of  the  first 
institution  of  this  sacrament),  implied,  according  to  its 
root,  that  which  was  raised  or  lifted  up;  not,  therefore, 
unleavened  bread;  such  rather  as  had  undergone  the  process 
of  fermentation.  But  even  if  the  etymology  on  which  they 
relied  (a/oros  from  aipw,  to  raise)  had  been  as  certain  as 
it  is  impossible,  they  could  draw  no  argument  of  the  slightest 
worth  from  so  remote  an  etymology,  and  one  which  had  so 
long  fallen  out  of  the  consciousness  of  those  who  employed 
the  word. 

Theories  too,  which  long  since  were  utterly  renounced, 
have  yet  left  their  traces  behind  them.  Thus  '  good 
humour,'  '  bad  humour,'  *  humours,'  and,  strangest  contra- 
diction of  all,  '  dry  humour,'  rest  altogether  on  a  now  ex- 
ploded, but  a  very  old  and  widely  accepted,  theory  of 
medicine;  according  to  which  there  were  four  principal 
moistures  or  '  humours  '  in  the  natural  body,  on  the  due 
proportion  and  combination  of  which  the  disposition  alike 
of  body  and  mind  depended.^®  Our  present  use  of  '  temper  ' 
has  its  origin  in  the  same  theory;  the  due  admixture,  or 
right  tempering,  of  these  humours  gave  what  was  called 
the  happj^  temper,  or  mixture,  which  thus  existing  inwardly, 
manifested  itself  also  outwardly ;  while  *  distemper,'  which 
we  still  employ  in  the  sense  of  sickness,  was  that  evil  frame 
either  of  a  man's  body  or  his  mind  (for  it  was  used  of 
both),  which  had  its  rise  in  an  unsuitable  mingling  of  these 
humours.  In  these  instances,  as  in  many  more,  the  great 
streams  of  thought  and  feeling  have  changed  their  course, 
flowing  now  in  quite  other  channels  from  those  which  once 

115 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

they  filled,  but  have  left  these  words  as  abiding  memorials 
of  the  channels  wherein  once  they  ran.     Thus  '  extremes/ 

*  golden  mean/  '  category/  '  predicament/  '  axiom/  '  habit/ 
— what  are  these  but  a  deposit  in  our  ethical  terminology 
which  the  schoolmen  have  left  behind  them? 

But  we  have  not  exhausted  our  examples  of  the  way  in 
which  the  record  of  old  errors,  themselves  dismissed  long 
ago,  will  yet  survive  in  language — being  bound  up  in  words 
that  grew  into  use  when  those  errors  found  credit,  and 
that  maintain  their  currency  still.  The  mythology  which 
Saxons  or  Danes  brought  with  them  from  their  German 
or  Scandinavian  homes  is  as  much  extinct  for  us  as  are  the 
Lares,  Larvae,  and  Lemures  of  heathen  Rome;  yet  the 
deposit  it  has  permanently  left  behind  it  in  the  English 
language  is  not  inconsiderable.  '  Dwarf,'  *  oaf,'  *  droll,' 
'wight,'  'puck,'  'urchin,'  'hag,'  'night-mare,'  '  gramary,'  'Old 
Nick,'  'changeling'  (Wechselkind),  suggest  themselves,  as 
all  connected  with  those  old  Teutonic  beliefs.  Few  now 
have  any  faith  in  astrology,  or  count  that  the  planet  under 
which  a  man  is  born  will  affect  his  temperament,  make  him 
for  life  of  a  disposition  grave  or  gay,  lively  or  severe.  Yet 
our   language  affirms   as   much;   for  we   speak  of  men  as 

*  jovial'  or  'saturnine,'  or  'mercurial' — 'jovial,'  as  being 
born  under  the  planet  Jupiter  or  Jove,  which  was  the  joy- 
fullest  star,  and  of  happiest  augury  of  all:  ^'^  a  gloomy 
severe  person  is  said  to  be  '  saturnine,'  born,  that  is,  under 
the  planet  Saturn,  who  makes  those  that  own  his  influence, 
having  been  born  when  he  was  in  the  ascendant,  grave  and 
stern  as  himself :  another  we  call  *  mercurial,'  or  '  light- 
hearted,'  as  those  born  under  the  planet  Mercury  were 
accounted  to  be.  The  same  faith  in  the  influence  of  the 
stars  survives  in  '  disastrous,'  *  ill-starred,'  '  ascendancy,' 
'  lord  of  the  ascendant,'  and,  indeed,  in  '  influence '  and 
the  Italian  form  of  it  '  influenza.'     What  a  record  of  old 

116 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

speculations,  old  certainly  as  Aristotle,  and  not  yet  exploded 
in  the  time  of  Milton/^  does  the  word  '  quintessence  '  con- 
tain ;  and  '  arsenic  '  the  same ;  no  other  namely  than  this 
that  metals  are  of  different  sexes,  some  male  (dpo-ei/c/ca), 
and  some  female.  Again,  what  curious  legends  belong  to 
the  '  sardonic,'^^  or  Sardinian,  laugh ;  a  laugh  caused,  as 
was  supposed,  by  a  plant  growing  in  Sardinia,  of  which 
they  who  ate,  died  laughing;  to  the  'barnacle'  goose,^^  to 
the  '  amethyst,'  esteemed,  as  the  word  implies,  a  preventive 
or  antidote  of  drunkenness*;  and  to  other  words  not  a  few, 
which  are  employed  by  us  still. 

A  question  presents  itself  here,  and  one  not  merely  specu- 
lative; for  it  has  before  now  become  a  veritable  case  of 
conscience  with  some  whether  they  ought  to  use  words  which 
originally  rested  on,  and  so  seem  still  to  affirm,  some  super- 
stition or  untruth.  This  question  has  practically  settled 
itself;  the  words  will  keep  their  ground:  but  further,  they 
have  a  right  to  do  this;  for  no  word  need  be  considered 
so  to  root  itself  in  its  etymology,  and  to  draw  its  sap  and 
strength  from  thence,  that  it  cannot  detach  itself  from  this, 
and  acquire  the  rights  of  an  independent  existence.  And 
thus  our  weekly  newspapers  commit  no  absurdity  in  calling 
themselves  'jowrnals,'  or  '  diurnals  ' ;  and  we  as  little  when 
we  name  that  a  *  journey  '  which  occupies  not  one,  but  several 
days.  We  involve  ourselves  in  no  real  contradiction,  speak- 
ing of  a  *  quarantine  '  of  five,  ten,  or  any  number  of  days 
more  or  fewer  than  forty;  or  of  a  population  *  decimated  ' 
by  a  plague,  though  exactly  a  tenth  of  it  has  not  perished. 
A  stone  coffin  may  be  still  a  *  sarcophagus,'  without  thereby 
implying  that  it  has  any  special  property  of  consuming 
the  flesh  of  bodies  which  are  laid  within  it.^*  In  like 
manner  the  wax  of  our  '  candles  '  (*  candela,'  from  'candeo') 
is  not  necessarily  white;  our  '  rubrics  '  retain  their  name, 
though  seldom  printed  in  red  ink ;  neither  need  our  '  minia- 

117 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

tures  '  abandon  theirs,  though  no  longer  painted  with  minium 
or  carmine ;  our  '  surplice '  is  not  usually  worn  over  an 
undergarment  of  skins ;  our  '  stirrups  '  are  not  ropes  by 
whose  aid  we  climb  upon  our  horses ;  nor  are  '  haversacks  ' 
sacks  for  the  carrying  of  oats ;  it  is  not  barley  or  here  only 
which  we  store  up  in  our  'barns/ nor  hogs'  fat  in  our  'larders' ; 
a  monody  need  not  be  sung  by  a  single  voice ;  and  our  lucu- 
brations are  not  always  by  candlelight ;  a  '  costermonger  ' 
or  *  costardmonger  '  does  not  of  necessity  sell  costards  or 
apples ;  there  are  *  palaces  '  which  are  not  built  on  the 
Palatine  Hill ;  and  '  nausea  '  which  is  not  sea-sickness.  I 
remember  once  asking  a  class  of  school-children,  whether 
an  announcement  which  during  one  very  hard  winter 
appeared  in  the  papers,  of  a  '  white  hlachhird.  '  having  been 
shot,  might  be  possibly  correct,  or  was  on  the  face  of  it 
self-contradictory  and  absurd.  The  less  thoughtful  mem- 
bers of  the  class  instantly  pronounced  against  it;  while 
after  a  little  consideration,  two  or  three  made  answer  that 
it  might  very  well  be,  that,  while  without  doubt  the  bird 
had  originally  obtained  this  name  from  its  blackness,  yet 
'  blackbird  '  was  now  the  name  of  a  species,  and  a  name  so 
cleaving  to  it,  as  not  to  be  forfeited,  even  when  the  black- 
ness had  quite  disappeared.  We  do  not  question  the  right  of 
the  '  New  Forest '  to  retain  this  title  of  New,  though  it 
has  now  stood  for  eight  hundred  years ;  nor  of  '  Naples  ' 
to  be  New  City  (Neapolis)  still,  after  an  existence  three 
or  four  times  as  long. 

It  must,  then,  be  esteemed  a  piece  of  ethical  prudery, 
and  an  ignorance  of  the  laws  which  languages  obey,  when 
the  early  Quakers  refused  to  employ  the  names  commonly 
given  to  the  days  of  the  week,  and  substituted  for  these, 
'  first  day,'  '  second  day,'  and  so  on.  This  they  did,  as  is 
well  known,  on  the  ground  that  it  became  not  Christian 
men  to  give  that  sanction  to  idolatry  which  was  involved  in 

118 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

the  ordinary  style — as  though  every  time  they  spoke  of 
Wednesday  they  were  rendering  homage  to  Woden,  of 
Thursday  to  Thor_,  of  Friday  to  Friga,  and  thus  with  the 
rest;''^  or  at  all  events  recognizing  their  existence.  Now 
it  is  quite  intelligible  that  the  early  Christians,  living  in 
the  midst  of  a  still  rempant  heathenism,  should  have 
objected,  as  we  know  they  did,  to  '  dies  Solis/  or  Sunday, 
to  express  the  first  day  of  the  week,  their  Lord's-Day.  But 
when  the  later  Friends  raised  their  protest,  the  case  was 
altogether  different.  The  false  gods  whose  names  were 
bound  up  in  these  words  had  ceased  to  be  worshipped  in 
England  for  about  a  thousand  years;  the  words  had  wholly 
disengaged  themselves  from  their  etymologies,  of  which 
probably  not  one  in  a  thousand  had  the  slightest  suspicion. 
Moreover,  had  these  precisians  in  speech  been  consistent, 
they  could  not  have  stopped  where  they  did.  Every  new 
acquaintance  with  the  etymology  or  primary  use  of  words 
would  have  entangled  them  in  some  new  embarrassment, 
would  have  required  a  new  purging  of  their  vocabulary. 

*  To  charm,'  '  to  bewitch,'  '  to  fascinate,'  '  to  enchant,'  would 
have  been  no  longer  lawful  words  for  those  who  had  out- 
lived the  belief  in  magic,  and  in  the  power  of  the  evil  eye; 
nor  *  lunacy,'  nor  '  lunatic,'  for  such  as  did  not  count  the  moon 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  mental  unsoundness;  nor 
'  panic  '  fear,  for  those  who  believed  that  the  great  god  Pan 
was  indeed  dead ;  nor  '  auguries,'  nor  '  auspices,'  for  those 
to  whom  divination  was  nothing;  while  to  speak  of  '  initiat- 
ing '  a  person  into  the  *  mysteries  '  of  an  art,  would  have 
been  utterly  heathenish  language.  Nay,  they  must  have 
found  fault  with  the  language  of  Holy  Scripture  itself; 
for  a  word  of  honourable  use  in  the  New  Testament  express- 
ing the  function  of  an  interpreter,  and  reappearing  in  our 

*  hermeneutics,'  is  directly  derived  from  and  embodies  the 
name  of  Hermes,  a  heathen  deity,  and  one  who  did  not, 

119 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

like  Woden,  Tlior,  and  Friga,  pertain  to  a  long  extinct 
mythology,  but  to  one  existing  in  its  strength  at  the  very 
time  when  the  Evangelist  wrote.  And  how  was  it,  as  might 
have  been  fairly  asked,  that  St.  Paul  did  not  protest  against 
a  Christian  woman  retaining  the  name  of  Phoebe  (Rom. 
16:  1),  a  goddess  of  the  same  mythology? 

The  rise  and  fall  of  words,  the  honour  which  in  tract 
of  time  they  exchanged  for  dishonour,  and  the  dishonour 
for  honour — all  which  in  my  last  lecture  I  contemplated 
mainly  from  an  ethical  point  of  view — is  in  a  merely  his- 
toric aspect  scarcely  less  remarkable.  Very  curious  is  it 
to  watch  the  varying  fortune  of  words — the  extent  to  which 
it  has  fared  with  them,  as  with  persons  and  families;  some 
having  improved  their  position  in  the  w^orld,  and  attained 
to  far  higher  dignity  than  seemed  destined  for  them  at  the 
beginning,  while  others  in  a  manner  quite  as  notable  have 
lost  caste,  have  descended  from  their  high  estate  to  common 
and  even  ignoble  uses.  Titles  of  dignity  and  honour  have 
naturally  a  peculiar  liability  to  be  some  lifted  up,  and  some 
cast  down.  Of  words  which  have  risen  in  the  world,  the 
French     '  marechal '     affords     us     an     excellent     example. 

*  Marechal,'  as  Howell  has  said,  '  at  first  was  the  name  of 
a  smith-farrier,  or  one  that  dressed  horses  ' — which  indeed 
it  is  still — '  but  it  climbed  by  degrees  to  that  height  that 
the  chief  est  commanders  of  the  gendarmery  are  come  to  be 
called  marshals.'  But  if  this  has  risen,  our  '  alderman  ' 
has  fallen.  Whatever  the  civic  dignity  of  an  alderman 
may  now  be,  still  it  must  be  owned  that  the  word  has  lost 
much  since  the  time  that  the  '  alderman  '  was  only  second 
in  rank  and  position  to  the  king.  Sometimes  a  word  will 
keep  or  even  improve  its  place  in  one  language,  while  at 
the    same    time    it    declines    from    it    in    another.       Thus 

*  demoiselle '  (dominicella)  cannot  be  said  to  have  lost 
ground  in  French,  however  '  donzelle  '  may ;  while  *  dam- 

120 


ON    THE    HISTORY    IN    WORDS 

hele/  being  the  same  word^  designates  in  Walloon  the  farm- 
girl  who  minds  the  cows.^*^  '  Pope  '  is  the  highest  ecclesi- 
astical dignitary  in  the  Latin  Church;  every  parish  priest 
is  a  '  pope  '  in  the  Greek.  '  Queen/  a  cognate  of  ywrj^ 
has  had  a  double  fortune.  Spelt  as  above  it  has  more  than 
kept  the  dignity  with  which  it  started,  being  the  title  given 
to  the  lady  of  the  kingdom ;  while  spelt  '  quean  '  it  is  a  desig- 
nation not  untinged  with  contempt.  '  Squatter  '  remains 
for  us  in  England  very  much  where  it  always  was ;  in  Aus- 
tralia it  is  now  the  name  by  which  the  landed  aristocracy 
are  willing  to  be  known.®^ 

After  all  that  has  thus  been  adduced,  you  will  scarcely 
deny  that  we  have  a  right  to  speak  of  a  history  in  words. 
Now  suppose  that  the  pieces  of  money  which  in  the  inter- 
course and  traffic  of  dailj^  life  are  passing  through  our  hands 
continually,  had  each  one  something  of  its  own  that  made 
it  more  or  less  worthy  of  note ;  if  on  one  was  stamped  some 
striking  maxim,  on  another  some  important  fact,  on  the 
third  a  memorable  date;  if  others  were  works  of  finest  art, 
graven  with  rare  and  beautiful  devices,  or  bearing  the  head 
of  some  ancient  sage  or  hero  king;  while  others,  again,  were 
the  sole  surviving  monuments  of  mighty  nations  that  once 
filled  the  world  with  their  fame ;  what  a  careless  indifference 
to  our  own  improvement — to  all  that  men  hitherto  had  felt 
or  wrought — would  it  argue  in  us,  if  we  were  content  that 
these  should  come  and  go,  should  stay  by  us  or  pass  from 
us,  without  our  vouchsafing  to  them  so  much  as  one  serious 
regard.  Such  a  currency  there  is,  a  currency  intellectual 
and  spiritual  of  no  meaner  worth,  and  one  with  which  we 
have  to  transact  so  much  of  the  higher  business  of  our 
lives.  Let  us  take  care  that  we  come  not  in  this  matter 
under  the  condemnation  of  any  such  incurious  indifference 
as  that  which  I  have  imagined. 


121 


LECTURE      5 

On  the  Rise  of  New  Words 

If  I  do  not  much  mistake,  you  will  find  it  not  a  little 
interesting  to  follow  great  and  significant  words  to  the  time 
and  place  of  their  birth.  And  not  these  alone.  The  same 
interest,  though  perhaps  not  in  so  high  a  degree,  will  cleave 
to  the  upcoming  of  words  not  a  few  that  have  never  played 
a  part  so  important  in  the  world's  story.  A  volume  might 
be  written  such  as  few  would  rival  in  curious  interest,  which 
should  do  no  more  than  indicate  the  occasion  upon  which 
new  words,  or  old  words  employed  in  a  new  sense — being 
such  words  as  the  world  subsequently  heard  much  of — first 
appeared;  with  quotation,  where  advisable,  of  the  passages 
in  proof.  A  great  English  poet,  too  early  lost,  the  '  young 
Marcellus  of  our  tongue,'  as  Dryden  so  finely  calls  him, 
has  very  grandly  described  the  emotion  of 

'  some  watcher  of  the  skies. 
When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken.' 

Not  very  different  will  be  our  feeling,  as  we  watch,  at  the 
moment  of  its  rising  above  the  horizon,  some  word  destined, 
it  may  be,  to  play  its  part  in  the  world's  story,  to  take 
its  place  for  ever  among  the  luminaries  in  the  moral  and 
intellectual   firmament  above  us. 

But  a  caution  is  necessary  here.  We  must  not  regard 
as  certain  in  every  case,  or  indeed  in  most  cases,  that  the 
first  rise  of  a  word  will  have  exactly  consented  in  time  with 
its  first  appearance  within  the  range  of  our  vision.  Such 
identity  will  sometimes  exist;  and  we  may  watch  the  actual 
birth  of  some  word,  and  may  affirm  with  confidence  that 

122 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

at  such  a  time  and  on  such  an  occasion  it  first  saw  the  light — 
in  this  book,  or  from  the  lips  of  that  man.  Of  another  we 
can  only  sa}^  About  this  time  and  near  about  this  spot  it 
first  came  into  being,  for  we  first  meet  it  in  such  an  author 
and  under  such  and  such  conditions.  So  mere  a  fragment 
of  ancient  literature  has  come  down  to  us,  that,  while  the 
earliest  appearance  there  of  a  word  is  still  most  instructive 
to  note,  it  cannot  in  all  or  in  nearly  all  cases  be  affirmed 
to  mark  the  exact  moment  of  its  nativity.  And  even  in 
the  modern  world  we  must  in  most  instances  be  content  to 
fix  a  period,  we  may  perhaps  add  a  local  habitation,  within 
the  limits  of  which  the  term  must  have  been  born,  either  in 
legitimate  scientific  travail,  or  the  child  of  some  flash  of 
genius,  or  the  product  of  some  generatio  osquivoca,  the 
necessary  result  of  exciting  predisposing  causes;  at  the 
same  time  seeking  by  further  research  ever  to  narrow  more 
and  more  the  limits  within  which  this  must  have  happened. 
To  speak  first  of  words  religious  and  ecclesiastical. 
Very  noteworthy,  and  in  some  sort  epoch-making,  must  be 
regarded  the  first  appearance  of  the  following : — '  Chris- 
tian ' ;  ^^  '  Trinity  ' ;  ^^  '  Catholic,'  as  applied  to  the 
Church ;  '^^^  '  canonical,'  as  a  distinctive  title  of  the  received 
Scriptures;  ^^^  '  New  Testament,'  as  describing  the  complex 
of  the  sacred  books  of  the  New  Covenant ;  ^^^  *  Gospels,' 
as  applied  to  the  four  inspired  records  of  the  life  and  min- 
istry of  our  Lord.^"^^  We  notice,  too,  with  interest,  the  first 
coming  up  of  '  monk  '  and  '  nun,'  ^^^  marking  as  they  do  the 
beginnings  of  the  monastic  system ; — of  *  transubstantia- 
tion,'  ^^^  of  '  concomitance,'  ^^°  expressing  as  does  this  word 
the  grounds  on  which  the  medieval  Church  defended  com- 
munion in  one  kind  only  for  the  laity ;  of  '  limbo  '  in  its 
theological  sense;  ^'^'"  witnessing  as  these  do  to  the  consoli- 
dation of  opinions  which  had  long  been  floating  in  the 
Church. 

123 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Not  so  profound  an  interest,  but  still  very  instructive 
to  note,  is  the  earliest  apparition  of  names  historical  and 
geographical,  above  all  of  such  as  have  since  been 
often  on  the  lips  of  men;  as  the  first  mention  in  books  of 
*Asia';io«  of  *  India ';i<>«  of  '  Europe ';^^«  of  '  Mace- 
donia';^^^  of  '  Greeks ';^^"  of  '  Germans'  and'  'Ger- 
many ';  ^^^  of  '  Alemanni ';  ^^*  of  '  Franks  ';  ^^^  of  '  Prus- 
sia '  and  '  Prussians';  ^^^  of  '  Normans';  ^^^  the  earliest 
notice  by  any  Greek  author  of  Rome;^^^  the  first  use  of 
*  Italy '  as  comprehending  the  entire  Hesperian  penin- 
sula; ^^^  of  'Asia  Minor'  to  designate  Asia  on  this  side 
Taurus. ^-^  '  Madagascar  '  may  hereafter  have  a  history, 
which  will  make  it  interesting  to  know  that  this  name  was 
first  given,  so  far  as  we  can  trace,  by  Marco  Polo  to  the  huge 
African  island.  Neither  can  we  regard  with  indifference 
the  first  giving  to  the  newly-discovered  continent  in  the 
West  the  name  of  *  America  ' ;  and  still  less  should  we  Eng- 
lishmen fail  to  take  note  of  the  date  when  this  island 
exchanged  its  earlier  name  of  Britain  for  '  England  ' ;  or 
again,  when  it  resumed  '  Great  Britain  '  as  its  official  desig- 
nation. So  also,  to  confirm  our  assertion  by  examples  from 
another  quarter,  it  cannot  be  unprofitable  to  mark  the  exact 
moment  at  which  *  tyrant '  and  '  tyranny,'  forming  so  dis- 
tinct an  epoch  as  this  did  in  the  political  history  of  Greece, 
first  appeared;  ^^^  or  again,  when,  and  from  whom,  the 
fabric  of  the  external  universe  first  received  the  title  of 
'  cosmios,'  or  beautiful  order ;  ^^^  a  name  not  new  in  itself, 
but  new  in  this  application  of  it;  with  much  more  of  the 
same  kind. 

Let  us  go  back  to  one  of  the  words  just  named,  and 
inquire  what  may  be  learned  from  acquaintance  with  the 
time  and  place  of  its  first  appearance.  It  is  one  the  coming 
up  of  which  has  found  special  record  in  the  Book  of  life: 
'  The  disciples,'  as  St.  Luke  expressly  tells  us,  '  were  called 

124 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

Christians  first  in  Antioch  '  (Acts  11:26).  That  we  have 
here  a  notice  which  we  would  not  willingly  have  missed  all 
will  acknowledge^  even  as  nothing  can  be  otherwise  than 
curious  which  relates  to  the  infancy  of  the  Church.  But 
there  is  here  much  more  than  an  interesting  notice.  Ques- 
tion it  a  little  closer,  and  how  much  it  will  be  found  to  con- 
tain, how  much  which  it  is  waiting  to  yield  up.  What 
light  it  throws  on  the  whole  story  of  the  apostolic  Church 
to  know  where  and  when  this  name  of  *  Christians  '  was 
first  imposed  on  the  faithful;  for  imposed  by  adversaries 
it  certainly  was,  not  devised  by  themselves,  however  after- 
wards they  may  have  learned  to  glory  in  it  as  the  name  of 
highest  dignity  and  honour.  They  did  not  call  themselves, 
but,  as  is  expressly  recorded,  they  '  were  called,'  Christians 
first  at  Antioch;  in  agreement  with  which  statement,  the 
name  occurs  nowhere  in  Scripture,  except  in  connexion  with 
those  alien  from,  or  opposed  to,  the  faith  (Acts  36:28; 
1  Pet.  4:  16).  And  as  it  was  a  name  imposed  by  adver- 
saries, so  among  these  adversaries  it  was  plainly  heathens, 
and  not  Jews,  who  were  its  authors ;  for  Jews  would  never 
have  called  the  followers  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  '  Christians,' 
or  those  of  Christ,  the  very  point  of  their  opposition  to  Him 
being,  that  he  was  not  the  Christ,  but  a  false  pretender  to 
the  name.^^^ 

Starting  then  from  this  point,  that  '  Christians  '  was  a 
title  given  to  the  disciples  by  the  heathen,  what  may  we 
deduce  from  it  further  }  At  Antioch  they  first  obtained  this 
name — at  the  city,  that  is,  which  was  the  head-quarters  of 
the  Church's  missions  to  the  heathen,  in  the  same  sense  as 
Jerusalem  had  been  the  head-quarters  of  the  mission  to  the 
seed  of  Abraham.  It  was  there,  and  among  the  faithful 
there,  that  a  conviction  of  the  world-wide  destination  of 
the  Gospel  arose ;  there  it  was  first  plainly  seen  as  intended 
for   all  kindreds  of   the   earth.      Hitherto  the  faithful   in 

125 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Christ  had  been  called  by  their  adversaries,  and  indeed 
often  were  still  called,  *  Galileans/  or  '  Nazarenes/ — ^both 
names  which  indicated  the  Jewish  cradle  wherein  the  Church 
had  been  nursed,  and  that  the  world  saw  in  the  new  Society 
no  more  than  a  Jewish  sect.  But  it  was  plain  that  the 
Church  had  now,  even  in  the  world's  eye,  chipped  its  Jewish 
shell.  The  name  '  Christians,'  or  those  of  Christ,  while 
it  told  that  Christ  and  confession  of  Him  was  felt  even  by 
the  heathen  to  be  the  sum  and  centre  of  this  new  faith, 
showed  also  that  they  comprehended  now,  not  all  which  the 
Church  would  be,  but  something  of  this ;  saw  this  much, 
namely,  that  it  was  no  mere  sect  and  variety  of  Judaism, 
but  a  Society  with  a  mission  and  a  destiny  of  its  own.  Nor 
will  the  thoughtful  reader  fail  to  observe  that  the  coming 
up  of  the  name  is  by  closest  juxtaposition  connected  in 
the  sacred  narrative,  and  still  more  closely  in  the  Greek  than 
in  the  English,  with  the  arrival  at  Antioch,  and  with  the 
preaching  there,  of  that  Apostle,  who  was  God's  appointed 
instrument  for  bringing  the  Church  to  a  full  sense  that 
the  message  which  it  had,  was  not  for  some  men  only,  but 
for  all.  As  so  often  happens  with  the  rise  of  new  names, 
the  rise  of  this  one  marked  a  new  epoch  in  the  Church's 
life,  and  that  it  was  entering  upon  a  new  stage  of  its  devel- 
opment.^^* It  is  a  small  matter,  yet  not  without  its  own 
significance,  that  the  invention  of  this  name  is  laid  by  St. 
Luke, — for  so,  I  think,  we  may  confidently  say, — to  the 
credit  of  the  Antiochenes.  Now  the  idle,  frivolous,  and 
witty  inhabitants  of  the  Syrian  capital  were  noted  in  all 
antiquity  for  the  invention  of  nicknames ;  it  was  a  manufac- 
ture for  which  their  city  was  famous.  And  thus  it  was 
exactly  the  place  where  beforehand  we  might  have  expected 
that  such  a  title,  being  a  nickname  or  little  better  in  their 
mouths  who  devised  it,  should  first  come  into  being. 

This  one  example  is  sufficient  to  show  that  new  words  will 
126 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

often  repay  any  amount  of  attention  which  we  may  bestow 
upon  them,  and  upon  the  conditions  under  which  they  were 
born.  I  proceed  to  consider  the  causes  which  suggest  or 
necessitate  their  birth,  the  periods  when  a  language  is  most 
fruitful  in  them,  the  sources  from  which  they  usually  pro- 
ceed, with  some  other  interesting  phenomena  about  them. 

And  first  of  the  causes  which  give  them  birth.  Now  of 
all  these  causes  the  noblest  is  this — namely,  that  in  the 
appointments  of  highest  Wisdom  there  are  epochs  in  the 
world's  history,  in  which,  more  than  at  other  times,  new 
moral  and  spiritual  forces  are  at  work,  stirring  to  their 
central  depths  the  hearts  of  men.  When  it  thus  fares  with 
a  people,  they  make  claims  on  their  language  which  were 
never  made  on  it  before.  It  is  required  to  utter  truths,  to 
express  ideas,  remote  from  it  hitherto;  for  which  therefore 
the  adequate  expression  will  naturally  not  be  forthcoming 
at  once,  these  new  thoughts  and  feelings  being  larger  and 
deeper  than  any  wherewith  hitherto  the  speakers  of  that 
tongue  had  been  familiar.  It  fares  with  a  language  then, 
as  it  would  fare  with  a  river  bed,  suddenly  required  to 
deliver  a  far  larger  volume  of  waters  than  had  hitherto 
been  its  wont.  It  would  in  such  a  case  be  nothing  strange, 
if  the  waters  surmounted  their  banks,  broke  forth  on  the 
right  hand  and  on  the  left,  forced  new  channels  with  a  cer- 
tain violence  for  themselves.  Something  of  the  kind  they 
must  do.  Now  it  was  exactly  thus  that  it  fared — for  there 
could  be  no  more  illustrious  examples — ^with  the  languages 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  when  it  was  demanded  of  them  that 
they  should  be  vehicles  of  the  truths  of  revelation. 

These  languages,  as  they  already  existed,  might  have 
sufficed,  and  did  suffice,  for  heathenism,  sensuous  and  finite ; 
but  they  did  not  suffice  for  the  spiritual  and  infinite,  for  the 
truths  at  once  so  new  and  so  mighty  which  claimed  now  to 
find  utterance  in  the  language  of  men.    And  thus  it  continu- 

127 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

ally  befel,  that  the  new  thought  must  weave  a  new  garment 
for  itself^  those  which  it  found  ready-made  being  narrower 
than  that  it  could  wrap  itself  in  them;  that  the  new  wine 
must  fashion  new  vessels  for  itself,  if  both  should  be  pre- 
served, the  old  being  neither  strong  enough,  nor  expan- 
sive enough,  to  hold  it.^~^  Thus,  not  to  speak  of  mere 
technical  matters,  which  would  claim  an  utterance,  how 
could  the  Greek  language  possess  a  word  for  '  idolatry,' 
so  long  as  the  sense  of  the  awful  contrast  between  the 
worship  of  the  living  God  and  of  dead  things  had  not 
risen  up  in  their  minds  that  spoke  it?  But  when  Greek 
began  to  be  the  native  language  of  men,  to  whom  this  dis- 
tinction between  the  Creator  and  the  creature  was  the  most 
earnest  and  deepest  conviction  of  their  souls,  words  such 
as  *  idolatry,'  '  idolater,'  of  necessity  appeared.  The  hea- 
then did  not  claim  for  their  deities  to  be  '  searchers  of 
hearts,'  did  not  disclaim  for  them  the  being  *  accepters  of 
persons  ' ;  such  attributes  of  power  and  righteousness  en- 
tered not  into  their  minds  as  pertaining  to  the  objects  of 
their  worship.  The  Greek  language,  therefore,  so  long  as 
they  only  employed  it,  had  not  the  words  corresponding.^-^ 
It,  indeed,  could  not  have  had  them,  as  the  Jewish  Hellen- 
istic Greek  could  not  be  without  them.  How  useful  a  word 
is  '  theocracy  ' ;  what  good  service  it  has  rendered  in  pre- 
senting a  certain  idea  clearly  and  distinctly  to  the  mind; 
yet  where,  except  in  the  bosom  of  the  same  Jewish  Greek, 
could  it  have  been  born?  ^^^ 

These  difficulties,  which  were  felt  the  most  strongly  when 
the  thought  and  feeling  that  had  been  at  home  in  the 
Hebrew,  the  original  language  of  inspiration,  needed  to  be 
transferred  into  Greek,  reappeared,  though  not  in  quite  so 
aggravated  a  form,  when  that  which  had  gradually  woven 
for  itself  in  the  Greek  an  adequate  clothing,  again 
demanded   to   find  a   suitable   garment  in  the   Latin.     An 

128 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

example  of  the  difficulty,  and  of  the  way  in  which  the  diffi- 
culty was  ultimately  overcome,  will  illustrate  this  far  better 
than  long  disquisitions.  The  classical  language  of  Greece 
had  a  word  for  *  saviour/  which,  though  often  degraded 
to  unworthy  uses,  bestowed  as  a  title  of  honour  not  merely 
on  the  false  gods  of  heathendom,  but  sometimes  on  men, 
such    as   better    deserved   to    be    styled    '  destroyers  '   than 

*  saviours  '  of  their  fellows,  was  yet  in  itself  not  unequal 
to  the  setting  forth  the  central  office  and  dignity  of  Him, 
who  came  into  the  world  to  save  it.  The  word  might  be 
likened  to  some  profaned  temple,  which  needed  a  new  con- 
secration, but  not  to  be  abolished,  and  another  built  in  its 
room.  "With  the  Latin  it  was  otherwise.  The  language 
seemed  to  lack  a  word,  which  on  one  account  or  another 
Christians  needed  continually  to  utter:  indeed  Cicero,  than 
whom  none  could  know  better  the  resources  of  his  own 
tongue,  remarkably  enough  had  noted  its  want  of  any  single 
equivalent  to  the  Greek  *  saviour.'  ^-^  .  '  Salvator  '  would 
have  been  the  natural  word;  but  the  classical  Latin  of  the 
best  times,  though  it  had  '  salus  '  and  *  salvus,'  had  neither 
this,  nor  the  verb  '  salvare  ' ;  some,  indeed,  have  thought 
that  '  salvare  '  had  always  existed  in  the  common  speech. 
'  Servator  '  was  instinctively  felt  to  be  insufficient,  even  as 

*  Preserver  '  would  for  us  fall  very  short  of  uttering  all 
which  '  Saviour  '  does  now.  The  seeking  of  the  strayed, 
the  recovery  of  the  lost,  the  healing  of  the  sick,  would  all 
be  but  feebly  and  faintly  suggested  by  it,  if  suggested  at 
all.      God    '  preserveth    man    and    beast,'    but    He    is    the 

*  Saviour  '  of  his  own  in  a  more  inward  and  far  more  endear- 
ing sense.  It  was  long  before  the  Latin  Christian  writers 
extricated    themselves    from    this    embarrassment,    for    the 

*  Salutificator  '  of  Tertullian,  the  '  Sospitator  '  of  another, 
assuredly  did  not  satisfy  the  need.  The  strong  good  sense 
of  Augustine  finally  disposed  of  the  difficulty.    He  made  no 

129 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

scruple  about  using  *  Salvator  ' ;  observing  with  a  true  in- 
sight into  the  conditions  under  which  new  words  should  be 
admitted,  that  however  '  Salvator '  might  not  have  been 
good  Latin  before  the  Saviour  came,  He  by  his  coming  and 
by  his  work  had  made  it  such;  for,  as  shadows  wait  upon 
substances,  so  words  wait  upon  things. ^"^  Take  another 
example.  It  seemed  so  natural  a  thing,  in  the  old  heathen 
world,  to  expose  infants,  where  it  was  not  found  convenient 
to  rear  them,  the  crime  excited  so  little  remark,  was  so  little 
regarded  as  a  crime  at  all,  that  it  seemed  not  worth  the  while 
to  find  a  name  for  it;  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  word 
*  infanticidium  '  was  first  born  in  the  bosom  of  the  Christian 
Church,  Tertullian  being  the  earliest  in  whose  writings  it 
appears. 

Yet  it  is  not  only  when  new  truth,  moral  or  spiritual,  has 
thus  to  fit  itself  to  the  lips  of  men,  that  such  enlargements 
of  speech  become  necessary:  but  in  each  further  unfolding 
of  those  seminal  truths  implanted  in  man  at  the  first,  in 
each  new  enlargement  of  his  sphere  of  knowledge,  outward 
or  inward,  the  same  necessities  make  themselves  felt.  The 
beginnings  and  progressive  advances  of  moral  philosophy 
in  Greece,^^^  the  transplantation  of  the  same  to  Rome,  the 
rise  of  the  scholastic,  and  then  of  the  mystic,  theology  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  discoveries  of  modern  science  and 
natural  philosophy,  these  each  and  all  have  been  accom- 
panied with  corresponding  extensions  in  the  domain  of  lan- 
guage. Of  the  words  to  which  each  of  these  has  in  turn 
given  birth,  many,  it  is  true,  have  never  travelled  beyond 
their  own  peculiar  sphere,  having  remained  purely  technical, 
or  scientific,  or  theological  to  the  last;  but  many,  too,  have 
passed  over  from  the  laboratory  and  the  school,  from  the 
cloister  and  the  pulpit,  into  everyday  use,  and  have,  with 
the  ideas  which  they  incorporate,  become  the  common  heri- 
tage of  all.     For  however  hard  and  repulsive  a  front  any 

130 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

study  or  science  may  present  to  the  great  body  of  those 
who  are  as  laymen  in  regard  of  it,  there  is  yet  inevitably 
such  a  detrition  as  this  continually  going  forward,  and  one 
which  it  would  be  well  worth  while  to  trace  in  detail. 

Where  the  movement  is  a  popular  one,  stirring  the  heart 
and  mind  of  a  people  to  its  depths,  there  these  new  words 
will  for  the  most  part  spring  out  of  their  bosom,  a  free 
spontaneous  birth,  seldom  or  never  capable  of  being  referred 
to  one  man  more  than  another,  because  in  a  manner  they 
belong  to  all.  Where,  on  the  contrary,  the  movement  is 
more  strictly  theological,  or  has  for  its  sphere  those  regions 
of  science  and  philosophy,  where,  as  first  pioneers  and  dis- 
coverers, only  a  few  can  bear  their  part,  there  the  additions 
to  the  language  and  extensions  of  it  will  lack  something  of 
the  freedom,  the  unconscious  boldness,  which  mark  the 
others.  Their  character  will  be  more  artificial,  less  spon- 
taneous, although  here  also  the  creative  genius  of  a  single 
man,  as  there  of  a  nation,  will  oftentimes  set  its  mark;  and 
many  a  single  word  will  come  forth,  which  will  be  the  result 
of  profound  meditation,  or  of  intuitive  genius,  or  of  both 
in  happiest  combination — many  a  word,  which  shall  as  a 
torch  illuminate  vast  regions  comparatively  obscure  before, 
and,  it  may  be,  cast  its  rays  far  into  the  yet  unexplored 
darkness  beyond;  or  which,  summing  up  into  itself  all  the 
acquisitions  in  a  particular  direction  of  the  past,  shall  fur- 
nish a  mighty  vantage-ground  from  which  to  advance  to 
new  conquests  in  those  realms  of  mind  or  of  nature,  not 
as  yet  subdued  to  the  intellect  and  uses  of  man. 

*  Cosmopolite  '  has  often  now  a  shallow  or  even  a  mis- 
chievous use ;  and  he  who  calls  himself  a  *  cosmopolite  '  may 
mean  no  more  than  that  he  is  not  a  patriot,  that  his  native 
country  does  not  possess  his  love.  Yet,  as  all  must  admit, 
he  could  have  been  no  common  man  who,  before  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel,  launched  this  word  upon  the  world,  and 

131 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

claimed  this  name  for  himself.  Nor  was  he  a  common 
man;  for  Diogenes  the  Cynic^  whose  sayings  are  among 
quite  the  most  notable  in  antiquity,  was  its  author.  Being 
demanded  of  what  city  or  country  he  was,  Diogenes 
answered  that  he  was  a  '  cosmopolite  ' ;  in  this  word  widen- 
ing the  range  of  men's  thoughts,  bringing  in  not  merely  a 
word  new  to  Greek  ears,  but  a  thought  which,  however  com- 
monplace and  familiar  to  us  now,  must  have  been  most  novel 
and  startling  to  those  whom  he  addressed.  I  am  far  from 
asserting  that  contempt  for  his  citizenship  in  its  narrower 
sense  may  not  have  mingled  with  this  his  challenge  for  him- 
self of  a  citizenship  wide  as  the  world;  but  there  was  not 
the  less  a  very  remarkable  reaching  out  here  after  truths 
which  were  not  fully  born  into  the  world  until  He  came,  in 
whom  and  in  whose  Church  all  national  differences  and 
distinctions  are  done  away. 

As  occupying  somewhat  of  a  middle  place  between  those 
more  deliberate  word-makers  and  the  multitude  whose  words 
rather  grow  of  themselves  than  are  made,  we  must  not 
omit  him  who  is  a  maker  by  the  very  right  of  his  name — 
I  mean,  the  poet.  That  creative  energy  with  which  he  is 
endowed,  *  the  high-flying  libe  ty  of  conceit  proper  to  the 
poet,'  will  not  fail  to  manifest  itself  in  this  region  as  in 
others.  Extending  the  domain  of  thought  and  feeling,  he 
will  scarcely  fail  to  extend  that  also  of  language,  which 
does  not  willingly  lag  behind.  And  the  loftier  his  moods, 
the  more  of  this  maker  he  will  be.  The  passion  of  such 
times,  the  all-fusing  imagination,  will  at  once  suggest  and 
justify  audacities  in  speech,  upon  which  in  calmer  moods 
he  would  not  have  ventured,  or,  venturing,  would  have  failed 
to  carry  others  with  him :  for  it  is  only  the  fluent  metal  that 
runs  easily  into  novel  shapes  and  moulds.  Nor  is  it  merely 
that  the  old  and  the  familiar  will  often  become  new  in  the 
poet's  hands;  that  he  will  give  the  stamp  of  allowance,  as 

132 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

to  him  will  be  free  to  do,  to  words  which  hitherto  have  lived 
only  on  the  lips  of  the  people,  or  been  confined  to  some  sin- 
gle dialect  and  province ;  but  he  will  enrich  his  native  tongue 
with  words  unknown  and  non-existent  before — non-existent, 
that  is,  save  in  their  elements ;  for  in  the  historic  period  of  a 
language  it  is  not  permitted  to  any  man  to  do  more  than  work 
on  pre-existent  materials;  to  evolve  what  is  latent  therein, 
to  combine  what  is  apart,  to  recall  what  has  fallen  out  of 
sight. 

But  to  return  to  the  more  deliberate  coining  of  words. 
New  necessities  have  within  the  last  few  years  called  out 
several  of  these  deliberate  creations  in  our  own  language. 
The  almost  simultaneous  discovery  of  such  large  abundance 
of  gold  in  so  many  quarters  of  the  world  led  some  nations 
so  much  to  dread  an  enormous  depreciation  of  this  metal, 
that  they  ceased  to  make  it  the  standard  of  value — Hol- 
land for  instance  did  so  for  a  while,  though  she  has  since 
changed  her  mind;  and  it  has  been  found  convenient  to 
invent  a  word,  '  to  demonetize,'  to  express  this  process  of 
turning  a  precious  metal  from  being  the  legal  standard  into 
a  mere  article  of  commerce.  So,  too,  diplomacy  has  recently 
added  more  than  one  new  word  to  our  vocabulary.  I  sup- 
pose nobody  ever  heard  of  '  extradition  '  till  within  the 
last  few  years ;  nor  of  '  neutralization,'  except,  it  might  be, 
in  some  treatise  upon  chemistry,  till  in  the  treaty  of  peace 
which  followed  the  Crimean  War  the  '  neutralization  '  of 
the  Black  Sea  was  made  one  of  the  stipulations.  '  Secu- 
larization,' in  like  manner,  owes  its  birth  to  the  long  and 
weary  negotiations  which  preceded  the  Treaty  of  West- 
phalia (1648).  Whenever  it  proved  difficult  to  find  any- 
where else  compensation  for  some  powerful  claimant,  there 
was  always  some  abbey  or  bishopric  which  with  its  revenues 
might  be  seized,  stripped  of  its  ecclesiastical  character,  and 
turned  into  a  secular  possession.     Our  manifold  points  of 

133 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

contact  with  the  East,  the  necessity  that  has  thus  arisen 
of  representing  oriental  words  to  the  western  world  by 
means  of  an  alphabet  not  its  own,  with  the  manifold  dis- 
cussions on  the  fittest  equivalents,  all  this  has  brought  with 
it  the  need  of  a  word  which  should  describe  the  process,  and 
'  transliteration  '  is  the  result. 

We  have  long  had  '  assimilation  '  in  our  dictionaries ; 
'  dissimilation  '  has  as  yet  scarcely  found  its  way  into  them, 
but  it  speedily  will.  Advances  in  philology  have  rendered 
it  a  matter  of  necessity  that  we  should  possess  a  term  to 
designate  a  certain  process  which  words  unconsciously 
undergo,  and  no  other  would  designate  it  at  all  so  well. 
There  is  a  process  of  '  assimilation  '  going  on  very  exten- 
sively in  language;  the  organs  of  speech  finding  themselves 
helped  by  changing  one  letter  for  another  which  has  just 
occurred,  or  will  just  occur  in  a  word;  thus  we  say  not 
'  adfiance,'  but  '  affiance/  not  '  renowTW,'  as  our  ancestors 
did  when  '  renom  '  was  first  naturalized,  but  *  renown  ;  we 
say  too,  though  we  do  not  write  it,  *  cupboard  '  and  not 
'  cupboard,'  '  subtle  '  and  not  *  su6tle.'  But  side  by  side 
with  this  there  is  another  opposite  process,  where  some  letter 
would  recur  too  often  for  euphony  or  ease  in  speaking, 
were  the  strict  form  of  the  word  too  closely  held  fast;  and 
where  consequently  this  letter  is  exchanged  for  some  other, 
generally  for  some  nearly  allied ;  thus  '  caeruleus  '  was  once 
'  caeZuleus,'  from  caelum ;  ^^^  '  meridies  '  is  for  '  mec?idies,' 
or  medius  dies.  In  the  same  way  the  Italians  prefer  '  veZeno  ' 
to  *  veweno  * ;  the  Germans  '  Xartoffel '  to  '  ^artiiff el,'  from 
Italian  *  tartufola  '= Latin  terrae  tuber,  an  old  name  of  the 
potato ;  and  we  cinnamon  '  to  '  cinnamom  '  (the  earlier 
form).  So  too  in  'turtle,'  'marble,'  'purple,'  we  have 
shrunk  from  the  double  '  r'  of  '  turtur,'  '  marmor,' 
'  purpura.'  ^^^ 

New  necessities,  new  evolutions  of  society  into  more  com- 
134. 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

plex  conditions,  evoke  new  words ;  which  come  forth,  because 
they  are  required  now;  but  did  not  formerly  exist,  because 
in  an  anterior  period  they  were  not  required.  For  example, 
in  Greece,  so  long  as  the  poet  sang  his  own  verses,  *  singer  ' 
(aoiSo?)  sufficiently  expressed  the  double  function;  such  a 
*  singer  '  was  Homer,  and  such  Homer  describes  Demodocus, 
the  bard  of  the  Pheeacians;  that  double  function,  in  fact, 
not  being  in  his  time  contemplated  as  double,  but  each  of  its 
parts  so  naturally  completing  the  other,  that  no  second  word 
was  required.  When,  however,  in  the  division  of  labour 
one  made  the  verses  which  another  chaunted,  then  *  poet ' 
or  *  maker,'  a  word  unknown  to  the  Homeric  age,  arose. 
In  like  manner,  when  *  physicians  '  were  the  only  natural 
philosophers,  the  word  covered  this  meaning  as  well  as  that 
other  which  it  still  retains;  but  when  the  investigation  of 
nature  and  natural  causes  detached  itself  from  the  art  of 
healing,  became  an  independent  study,  the  name  *  physician  ' 
remained  to  that  which  was  as  the  stock  and  stem  of  the 
art,  while  the  new  offshoot  sought  out  and  obtained  a  new 
name  for  itself. 

But  it  is  not  merely  new  things  which  will  require  new 
names.  It  will  often  be  discovered  that  old  things  have 
not  got  a  name  at  all,  or,  having  one,  are  compelled  to  share 
it  with  something  else,  often  to  the  serious  embarrassment 
of  both.  The  manner  in  which  men  became  aware  of  such 
deficiencies,  is  commonly  this.  Comparing  their  own  lan- 
guage with  another,  and  in  some  aspects  a  richer,  compelled, 
it  may  be,  to  such  comparison  through  having  undertaken 
to  transfer  treasures  of  that  language  into  their  own,  they 
become  conscious  of  much  worthy  to  be  uttered  in  human 
speech,  and  plainly  utterable  therein,  since  another  lan- 
guage has  found  utterance  for  it;  but  which  hitherto  has 
found  no  voice  in  their  own.  Hereupon  with  more  or  less 
success  they  proceed  to  supply  the  deficiency.     Hardly  in 

135 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

any  other  way  would  the  wants  in  this  way  revealed  make 
themselves  felt  even  by  the  most  thoughtful;  for  language 
is  to  so  large  an  extent  the  condition  and  limit  of  thought, 
men  are  so  little  accustomed,  indeed  so  little  able,  to  con- 
template things,  except  through  the  intervention,  and  by  the 
machiner}^,  of  words,  that  the  absence  of  words  from  a 
language  almost  necessarily  brings  with  it  the  absence  of 
any  sense  of  that  absence.  Here  is  one  advantage  of 
acquaintance  with  other  languages  besides  our  o^vn,  and  of 
the  institution  that  will  follow,  if  we  have  learned  those 
other  to  any  profit,  of  such  comparisons,  namely,  that  we 
thus  become  aware  that  names  are  not,  and  least  of  all  the 
names  in  any  one  language,  co-extensive  with  things  (and 
by  '  things  '  I  mean  subjects  as  well  as  objects  of  thought, 
whatever  one  can  thi?ik  about),  that  innumerable  things  and 
aspects  of  things  exist,  which,  though  capable  of  being 
resumed  and  connoted  in  a  word,  are  yet  without  one, 
unnamed  and  unregistered;  and  thus,  vast  as  may  be  the 
world  of  names,  that  the  world  of  realities,  and  of  realities 
which  are  nameable,  is  vaster  still.  Such  discoveries  the 
Romans  made,  when  they  sought  to  transplant  the  moral 
philosophy  of  Greece  to  an  Italian  soil.  They  discovered 
that  many  of  its  terms  had  no  equivalents  with  them;  which 
equivalents  thereupon  they  proceeded  to  devise  for  them- 
selves, appealing  for  this  to  the  latent  capabilities  of  their 
own  tongue.  For  example,  the  Greek  schools  had  a  word, 
and  one  playing  no  unimportant  part  in  some  of  their  phil- 
osophical systems,  to  express  '  apathy,'  or  the  absence  of 
all  passion  and  pain.  As  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  pos- 
sess a  corresponding  word,  Cicero  invented  '  indolentia,'  as 
that  '  if  I  may  so  speak  '  with  which  he  paves  the  way  to 
his  first  introduction  of  it,  sufficiently  declares. ^^^ 

Sometimes,  indeed,  such  a  skilful  mint-master  of  words, 
such  a  subtle  watcher  and  weigher  of  their  force  as  was 

136 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

Cicero/^^  will  have  noticed  even  apart  from  this  compari- 
son with  other  languages,  an  omission  in  his  own,  which 
thereupon  he  will  endeavour  to  supply.  Thus  the  Latin 
had  two  adjectives  which,  though  not  kept  apart  as  strictly 
as  they  might  have  been,  possessed  each  its  peculiar  mean- 
ing, '  invidus,'  one  who  is  envious,  '  invidiosiis,'  one  who 
excites  envy  in  others ;  ^^*  at  the  same  time  there  was  only 
one  substantive,  *  invidia,'  the  correlative  of  them  both ;  with 
the  disadvantage,  therefore,  of  being  employed  now  in  an 
active,  now  in  a  passive  sense,  now  for  the  envy  which  men 
feel,  and  now  for  the  envy  which  they  excite.  The  word 
he  saw  was  made  to  do  double  duty;  under  a  seeming  unity 
there  lurked  a  real  dualism,  from  which  manifold  confu- 
sions might  follow.  He  therefore  devised  *  invidentia,'  to 
express  the  active  envy,  or  the  envying,  no  doubt  desiring 
that  '  invidia  '  should  be  restrained  to  the  passive,  the  being 
envied.  *  Invidentia '  to  all  appearance  supplied  a  real 
want;  yet  Cicero  himself  did  not  succeed  in  giving  it  cur- 
rency ;  does  not  seem  himself  to  have  much  cared  to  employ 
it  again. ^^^ 

We  see  by  this  example  that  not  every  word,  which  even 
an  expert  in  language  proposes,  finds  acceptance;  ^^®  for, 
as  Dryden,  treating  on  this  subject,  has  well  observed,  *  It 
is  one  thing  to  draw  a  bill,  and  another  to  have  it  accepted.* 
Provided  some  words  live,  he  must  be  content  that  others 
should  fall  to  the  ground  and  die.  Nor  is  this  the  only 
unsuccessful  candidate  for  admission  into  the  language 
which  Cicero  put  forward.  His  *  indolentia,'  which  I  men- 
tioned just  now,  hardly  passed  beyond  himself;  ^^^  his 
'  vitiositas,'^^^  *  indigentia,'^^^  and  '  mulierositas,'^*^  not  at 
all.  '  Beatitas  '  too  and  *  beatitudo,*^*^  both  of  his  coining, 
yet,  as  he  owns  himself,  with  something  strange  and  unat- 
tractive about  them,  found  almost  no  acceptance  at  all  in 
the    classical    literature    of    Rome :     '  beatitude,'    indeed, 

137 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

obtained  a  home,  as  it  deserved  to  do,  in  the  Christian 
Church,  but  '  beatitas  '  none.  Coleridge's  '  esemplastic/  by 
which  he  was  fain  to  express  the  all-atoning  or  unifying 
power  of  the  imagination,  has  not  pleased  others  at  all  in 
the  measure  in  which  it  pleased  himself;  while  the  words 
of  Jeremy  Taylor,  of  such  Latinists  as  Sir  Thomas  Browne 
and  Henry  More,  born  only  to  die,  are  multitudinous  as 
the  fallen  leaves  of  autumn.^'*^  Still  even  the  word  which 
fails  is  often  an  honourable  testimony  to  the  scholarship, 
or  the  exactness  of  thought,  or  the  imagination  of  its  author ; 
and  Ben  Jonson  is  overhard  on  *  neologists,'  if  I  may  bring 
this  term  back  to  its  earlier  meaning,  when  he  says :  '  A  man 
coins  not  a  new  word  without  some  peril,  and  less  fruit; 
for  if  it  happen  to  be  received,  the  praise  is  but  moderate; 
if  refused,  the  scorn  is  assured. '^*^ 

I  spoke  just  now  of  comprehensive  words,  which  should 
singly  say  what  hitherto  it  had  taken  many  words  to  say, 
in  which  a  higher  term  has  been  reached  than  before  had 
been  attained.  The  value  of  these  is  incalculable.  By  the 
cutting  short  of  lengthy  explanations  and  tedious  circuits 
of  language,  they  facilitate  mental  processes,  such  as  would 
often  have  been  nearly  or  quite  impossible  without  them; 
and  such  as  have  invented  or  put  these  into  circulation,  are 
benefactors  of  a  high  order  to  knowledge.  In  the  ordinary 
traffic  of  life,  unless  our  dealings  are  on  the  smallest  scale, 
we  willingly  have  about  us  our  money  in  the  shape  rather 
of  silver  than  of  copper;  and  if  our  transactions  are  at  all 
extensive,  rather  in  gold  than  in  silver:  while,  if  we  were 
setting  forth  upon  a  long  and  costly  journey,  we  should 
be  best  pleased  to  turn  even  our  gold  coin  itself  into  bills 
of  exchange  or  circular  notes;  in  fact,  into  the  highest 
denomination  of  money  which  it  was  capable  of  assuming. 
How  many  words  with  which  we  are  now  perfectly  familiar 
are  for  us  what  the  circular  note  or  bill  of  exchange  is  for 

138 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

the  traveller  or  the  merchant.  As  innumerable  pence,  a 
multitude  of  shillings,  not  a  few  pounds  are  gathered  up 
and  represented  by  one  of  these,  so  have  we  in  some  single 
word  the  quintessence  and  final  result  of  an  infinite  number 
of  anterior  mental  processes,  ascending  one  above  the  other, 
until  all  have  been  at  length  summed  up  for  us  in  that  single 
word.  This  last  may  be  compared  to  nothing  so  fitly  as 
to  some  mighty  river,  which  does  not  bring  its  flood  of 
waters  to  the  sea,  till  many  rills  have  been  swallowed  up  in 
brooks,  and  brooks  in  streams,  and  streams  in  tributary 
rivers,  each  of  these  affluents  having  lost  its  separate  name 
and  existence  in  that  which  at  last  represents  and  contains 
them  all. 

Science  is  an  immense  gainer  by  words  which  thus  say 
singly,  what  whole  sentences  might  with  difficulty  have  suc- 
ceeded in  saying.  Thus  '  isothermal '  is  quite  a  modern 
invention ;  but  how  much  is  summed  up  by  the  word ;  what  a 
long  story  is  saved,  as  often  as  we  speak  of  '  isothermal ' 
lines.  Physiologists  have  given  the  name  of  '  atavism  '  to 
the  emerging  again  of  a  face  in  a  family  after  its  disappear- 
ance during  two  or  three  generations.  What  would  have 
else  needed  a  sentence  is  here  accomplished  by  a  word. 
Francis  Bacon  somewhere  describes  a  certain  candidate  for 
the  Chair  of  St.  Peter  as  being  *  papable.'  There  met,  that 
is,  in  him  all  the  conditions,  and  they  were  many,  which 
would  admit  the  choice  of  the  Conclave  falling  upon  him. 
When  Bacon  wrote,  one  to  be  '  papable '  must  have  been 
born  in  lawful  wedlock;  must  have  no  children  nor  grand- 
children living;  must  not  have  a  kinsman  already  in  the 
Conclave;  must  be  already  a  Cardinal;  all  which  facts  this 
single  word  sums  up.  When  Aristotle,  in  the  opening 
sentences  of  his  Rhetoric,  declares  that  rhetoric  and  logic 
are  *  antistrophic,'  what  a  wonderful  insight  into  both,  and 
above  all  into  their  relations  to  one  another,  does  the  word 

139 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

impart  to  those  who  have  any  such  special  training  as 
enables  them  to  take  in  all  which  hereby  he  intends.  Or 
take  a  word  so  familiar  as  '  circle/  and  imagine  how  it  would 
fare  with  us,  if,  as  often  as  in  some  long  and  difficult  math- 
ematical problem  we  needed  to  refer  to  this  figure,  we  were 
obliged  to  introduce  its  entire  definition,  no  single  word 
representing  it ;  and  not  this  only,  but  the  definition  of  each 
term  employed  in  the  definition ; — how  well  nigh  impossible 
it  would  prove  to  carry  the  whole  process  in  the  mind,  or 
to  take  oversight  of  all  its  steps.  Imagine  a  few  more  words 
struck  out  of  the  vocabulary  of  the  mathematician,  and  if 
all  activity  and  advance  in  his  proper  domain  were  not  alto- 
gether arrested,  yet  would  it  be  as  effectually  restrained  and 
hampered  as  commercial  intercourse  would  be,  if  in  all  its 
transactions  iron  or  copper  were  the  sole  medium  of  ex- 
change. Wherever  any  science  is  progressive,  there  will  be 
progress  in  its  nomenclature  as  well.  Words  will  keep  pace 
with  things,  and  with  more  or  less  felicity  resuming  in  them- 
selves the  labours  of  the  past,  will  at  once  assist  and  abridge 
the  labours  of  the  future;  like  tools  which,  themselves  the 
result  of  the  finest  mechanical  skill,  do  at  the  same  time 
render  other  and  further  triumphs  of  art  possible,  often- 
times such  as  would  prove  quite  unattainable  without  them.^*^ 
It  is  not  merely  the  widening  of  men's  intellectual  hori- 
zon, which,  bringing  new  thoughts  within  the  range  of  their 
vision,  compels  the  origination  of  corresponding  words; 
but  as  often  as  regions  of  this  outward  world  hitherto  closed 
are  laid  open,  the  novel  objects  of  interest  which  these 
contain  will  demand  to  find  their  names,  and  not  merely  to 
be  catalogued  in  the  nomenclature  of  science,  but,  so  far  as 
they  present  themselves  to  the  popular  eye,  will  require  to 
be  popularly  named.  When  a  new  thing,  a  plant,  or  fruit, 
or  animal,  or  whatever  else  it  may  be,  is  imported  from  some 
foreign  land,  or  so  comes  within  the  sphere  of  knowledge 

140 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

that  it  needs  to  be  thus  named,  there  are  various  ways  by 
which  this  may  be  done.  The  first  and  commonest  way  is 
to  import  the  name  and  the  thing  together,  incorporating 
the  former,  unchanged,  or  with  slight  modification,  into  the 
language.  Thus  we  did  with  the  potato,  which  is  only 
another  form  of  *  batata,'  in  which  shape  the  original  Indian 
word  appears  in  our  earlier  voyagers.  But  this  is  not  the 
only  way  of  naming;  and  the  example  on  which  I  have  just 
lighted  affords  good  illustration  of  various  other  methods 
which  may  be  adopted.  Thus  a  name  belonging  to  some- 
thing else,  which  the  new  object  nearly  resembles,  may  be 
transferred  to  it,  and  the  confusion  arising  from  calling 
different  things  by  the  same  name  disregarded.  It  was 
thus  in  German,  '  Kartoffel '  being  only  a  corruption,  which 
found  place  in  the  last  century,  of  '  Tartuffel,'  from  the 
Italian  '  tartufFolo  '  (Florio),  properly  the  name  of  the 
truffle ;  but  which  not  the  less  was  transferred  to  the  potato, 
on  the  ground  of  the  many  resemblances  between  them.  Or 
again  this  same  transfer  may  take  place,  but  with  some 
qualifying  or  distinguishing  addition.  Thus  in  Italy  also 
men  called  the  potato  '  tartufo,'  but  added  *  bianco,'  the 
white  truffle;  a  name  now  giving  way  to  *  patata.'  Thus 
was  it,  too,  with  the  French ;  who  called  it  apple,  but  '  apple 
of  the  earth  ' ;  even  as  in  many  of  the  provincial  dialects 
of  Germany  it  bears  the  name  of  '  Erdapfel '  or  earth-apple 
to  this  day. 

It  will  sometimes  happen  that  a  language,  having  thus  to 
provide  a  new  name  for  a  new  thing,  will  seem  for  a  season 
not  to  have  made  up  its  mind  by  which  of  these  methods 
it  shall  do  it.  Two  names  will  exist  side  by  side,  and  only 
after  a  time  will  one  gain  the  upper  hand  of  the  other.  Thus 
when  the  pineapple  was  introduced  into  England,  it  brought 
with  it  the  name  of  '  ananas,'  erroneously  '  anana,'  under 
which  last  form  it  is  celebrated  by  Thomson  in  his  Seasons. 

141 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

This  name  has  been  nearly  or  quite  superseded  by  '  pine- 
apple/ manifestly  suggested  by  the  likeness  of  the  new  fruit 
to  the  cone  of  the  pine.  It  is  not  a  very  happy  formation ; 
for  it  is  not  likeness,  but  identity,  which  '  pineapple  '  sug- 
gests,  and  it  gives  some  excuse  to  an  error,  which  up  to  a 
very  late  day  ran  through  all  German-English  and  French- 
English  dictionaries;  I  know  not  whether  even  now  it  has 
disappeared.  In  all  of  these  '  pineapple  '  is  rendered  as 
though  it  signified  not  the  anana,  but  this  cone  of  the  pine ; 
and  not  very  long  ago,  the  Journal  des  Debats  made  some 
uncomplimentary  observations  on  the  voracity  of  the  Eng- 
lish, who  could  wind  up  a  Lord  Mayor's  banquet  with  fir- 
cones for  dessert. 

Sometimes  the  name  adopted  will  be  one  drawn  from 
an  intermediate  language,  through  which  we  first  became 
acquainted  with  the  obj  ect  requiring  to  be  named.  '  Alli- 
gator '  is  an  example  of  this.  When  that  ugly  crocodile 
of  the  New  World  was  first  seen  by  the  Spanish  discoverers, 
they  called  it,  with  a  true  insight  into  its  species,  '  el 
lagarto,'  the  lizard,  as  being  the  largest  of  that  lizard  spe- 
cies to  which  it  belonged,  or  sometimes  '  el  lagarto  de  las 
Indias,*  the  Indian  lizard.  In  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Dis- 
covery of  Guiana  the  word  still  retains  its  Spanish  form. 
Sailing  up  the  Orinoco,  '  we  saw  in  it,'  he  says,  '  divers 
sorts  of  strange  fishes  of  marvellous  bigness,  but  for 
lagartos  it  exceeded ;  for  there  were  thousands  of  these  ugly 
serpents,  and  the  people  call  it,  for  the  abundance  of  them, 
the  river  of  lagartos,  in  their  language.'  We  can  explain 
the  shape  which  with  us  the  word  gradually  assumed,  by 
supposing  that  English  sailors  who  brought  it  home,  and 
had  continually  heard,  but  may  have  never  seen  it  written, 
blended,  as  in  similar  instances  has  often  happened,  the 
Spanish  article  '  el '  with  the  name.  In  Ben  Jonson's 
*  alligarta,'  we  note  the  word  in  process  of  transformation.^*^ 

142 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

Less  honourable  causes  than  some  which  I  have  men- 
tioned, give  birth  to  new  words ;  which  will  sometimes  reflect 
back  a  very  fearful  light  on  the  moral  condition  of  that 
epoch  in  which  first  they  saw  the  light.  Of  the  Roman 
emperor,  Tiberius,  one  of  those  *  inventors  of  evil  things/ 
of  whom  St.  Paul  speaks  (Rom.  1:30),  Tacitus  informs 
us  that  under  his  hateful  dominion  words,  unknown  before, 
emerged  in  the  Latin  tongue,  for  the  setting  out  of  wicked- 
nesses, happily  also  previously  unknown,  which  he  had 
invented.  It  was  the  same  frightful  time  which  gave  birth 
to  '  delator,'  alike  to  the  thing  and  to  the  word. 

The  atrocious  attempt  of  Lewis  XIV.  to  convert  the  Prot- 
estants in  his  dominions  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  by 
quartering  dragoons  upon  them,  with  license  to  misuse  to 
the  uttermost  those  who  refused  to  conform,  this  '  booted 
mission  '  (mission  bottee),  as  it  was  facetiously  called  at 
the  time,  has  bequeathed  '  dragonnade '  to  the  French  lan- 
guage. *  Refugee  '  had  at  the  same  time  its  rise,  and  owed 
it  to  the  same  event.  They  were  called  '  refugies '  or 
'  refugees  '  who  took  refuge  in  some  land  less  inhospitable 
than  their  own,  so  as  to  escape  the  tender  mercies  of  these 
missionaries.  *  Convertisseur  '  belongs  to  the  same  period. 
The  spiritual  factor  was  so  named  who  undertook  to  con- 
vert the  Protestants  on  a  large  scale,  receiving  so  much  a 
head  for  the  converts  whom  he  made. 

Our  present  use  of  '  roue  '  throws  light  on  another  curious 
and  shameful  page  of  French  history.  The  *  roue,'  by  which 
word  now  is  meant  a  man  of  profligate  character  and  con- 
duct, is  properly  and  primarily  one  broken  on  the  wheel. 
Its  present  and  secondary  meaning  it  derived  from  that 
Duke  of  Orleans  who  was  Regent  of  France  after  the  death 
of  Lewis  XIV.  It  was  his  miserable  ambition  to  gather 
round  him  companions  worse,  if  possible,  and  wickeder  than 
himself.     These,  as  the  Duke  of  St.  Simon  assures  us,  he 

143 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

was  wont  to  call  his  *  roues  ';  every  one  of  them  abundantly 
deserving  to  be  broken  on  the  wheels — which  was  the  punish- 
ment then  reserved  in  France  for  the  worst  malefactors/"^^ 
When  we  have  learned  the  pedigree  of  the  word,  the  man 
and  the  age  rise  up  before  us,  glorying  in  their  shame,  and 
not  caring  to  pay  to  virtue  even  that  hypocritical  homage 
which  vice  finds  it  sometimes  convenient  to  render. 

The  great  French  Revolution  made,  as  might  be  expected, 
characteristic  contributions  to  the  French  language.  It 
gives  us  some  insight  into  its  ugliest  side  to  know  that, 
among  other  words,  it  produced  the  following:  '  guillotine,' 
'  incivisme,'  '  lanterner,'  '  noyade,'  *  sans-culotte,'  *  terror- 
isme.'  Still  later,  the  French  conquests  in  North  Africa, 
and  the  pitiless  severities  with  which  every  attempt  at  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  free  tribes  of  the  interior  was  put 
down  and  punished,  have  left  their  mark  on  it  as  well; 
'  razzia,'  which  is  properly  an  Arabic  word,  having  been 
added  to  it,  to  express  the  swift  and  sudden  sweeping  away 
of  a  tribe,  with  its  herds,  its  crops,  and  all  that  belongs  to 
it.  The  Communist  insurrection  of  1871  bequeathed  one 
contribution  almost  as  hideous  as  itself,  namely  *  petroleuse,' 
to  the  language.  It  is  quite  recently  that  we  have  made  any 
acquaintance  with  *  recidivist ' — one,  that  is,  who  falls  back 
once  more  on  criminal  courses. 

But  it  would  ill  become  us  to  look  only  abroad  for  ex- 
amples in  this  kind,  when  perhaps  an  equal  abundance 
might  be  f  oimd  much  nearer  home.  Words  of  our  own  keep 
record  of  passages  in  our  history  in  which  we  have  little 
reason  to  glory.  Thus  '  mob  '  and  '  sham  '  had  their  birth 
in  that  most  disgraceful  period  of  English  history,  the 
interval  between  the  Restoration  and  the  Revolution.  *  I 
^nay  note,'  says  one  writing  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.,  '  that  the  rabble  first  changed  their  title,  and 
were  called  "  the  mob  "  in  the  assemblies  of  this  [The  Green 

14  i 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

Ribbon]  Club.  It  was  their  beast  of  burden,  and  called 
first  "  mobile  vulgus/'  but  fell  naturally  into  the  contrac- 
tion of  one  syllable,  and  ever  since  is  become  proper  Eng- 
lish.' ^^^  At  a  much  later  date  a  writer  in  The  Spectator 
speaks  of  '  mob  '  as  still  only  struggling  into  existence.  '  I 
dare  not  answer/  he  says,  '  that  mob,  rap,  pos,  incog.,  and 
the  like,  will  not  in  time  be  looked  at  as  part  of  our  tongue.' 
In  regard  of  *  mob,'  the  mobile  multitude,  swayed  hither  and 
thither  by  each  gust  of  passion  or  caprice,  this,  which  The 
Spectator  hardly  expected,  while  he  confessed  it  possible, 
has  actually  come  to  pass,  *  It  is  one  of  the  many  words 
formerly  slang,  which  are  now  used  by  our  best  writers, 
and  received,  like  pardoned  outlaws,  into  the  body  of 
respectable  citizens.'  Again,  though  the  murdering  of  poor 
helpless  lodgers,  afterwards  to  sell  their  bodies  for  dis- 
section, can  only  be  regarded  as  the  monstrous  wickedness 
of  one  or  two,  yet  the  verb  *  to  burke,'  drawn  from  the 
name  of  a  wretch  who  long  pursued  this  hideous  traffic,  will 
be  evidence  in  all  after  times,  unless  indeed  its  origin  should 
be  forgotten,  to  how  strange  a  crime  this  age  of  ours  could 
give  birth.  Nor  less  must  it  be  acknowledged  that  '  to 
ratten  '  is  no  pleasant  acquisition  which  the  language  within 
the  last  few  years  has  made ;  and  as  little  *  to  boycott,' 
which  is  of  still  later  birth. 

We  must  not  count  as  new  words  properly  so  called,  al- 
though they  may  delay  us  for  a  minute,  those  comic  words, 
most  often  comic  combinations  formed  at  will,  wherein,  as 
plays  and  displays  of  power,  writers  ancient  and  modern 
have  delighted.  These  for  the  most  part  are  meant  to  do 
service  for  the  moment,  and,  this  done,  to  pass  into  oblivion ; 
the  inventors  of  them  themselves  having  no  intention  of 
fastening  them  permanently  on  the  language.  Thus  Aris- 
tophanes coined  /xeXAoi/tKtaw,  to  loiter  like  Nicias,  with  allu- 
sion to  the  delays  by  whose  aid  this  prudent  commander 

145 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

sought  to  put  off  the  disastrous  Sicilian  expedition^  with 
other  words  not  a  few,  familiar  to  every  scholar.  The 
humour  will  sometimes  consist  in  their  enormous  length/^® 
sometimes  in  th^ir  mingled  observance  and  transgression 
of  the  laws  of  the  language,  as  in  the  Savawraro?,  in  the 
aiuToraros  of  the  Greek  comic  poet,  the  '  patruissimus ' 
and  '  oculissimus/  comic  superlatives  of  patruus  and 
oculus,  '  occisissimus  '  of  occisus ;  '  dominissimus  '  of  dom- 
inus;  '  asinissimo  '  (Italian)  of  asino;  or  in  superlative  piled 
on  superlative,  as  in  the  '  minimissimus  '  and  '  pessimissimus  ' 
of  Seneca,  the  *  ottimissimo  '  of  the  modern  Italian ;  so  too 
in  the  '  dosones,'  '  dabones,'  which  in  Greek  and  in  medieval 
Latin  were  names  given  to  those  who  were  ever  promising, 
ever  saying  '  I  will  give,'  but  never  crowning  promise  with 
performance.  Plautus,  with  his  exuberant  wit,  and  exulting 
in  his  mastery  of  the  Latin  language,  is  rich  in  these,  '  fus- 
titudinus,'  *  f  erricrepinus  '  and  the  like ;  will  put  together 
four  or  five  lines  consisting  wholly  of  comic  combinations 
thrown  off  for  the  occasion.^^®  Of  the  same  character  is 
Chaucer's  *  octogamy,'  or  eighth  marriage ;  Butler's  '  cyn- 
arctomachy,'  or  battle  of  a  dog  and  bear ;  Southey's  '  matri- 
arch,' for  by  this  name  he  calls  the  wife  of  the  Patriarch 
Job;  but  Southey's  fun  in  this  line  of  things  is  commonly 
poor  enough;  his  want  of  finer  scholarship  making  itself 
felt  here.  What  humour  for  example  can  any  one  find  in 
*  philof  elist '  or  lover  of  cats  ?  Fuller,  when  he  used  '  to 
avunculize,'  meaning  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  of  one's  uncle, 
scarcely  proposed  it  as  a  lasting  addition  to  the  language; 
as  little  did  Pope  intend  more  than  a  very  brief  existence 
for  '  vaticide,'  or  Cowper  for  '  extraf oraneous,'  or  Carlyle 
for  '  gigmanity,'  for  '  tolpatchery,'  or  the  like. 

Such  are  some  of  the  sources  of  increase  in  the  wealth 
of  a  language;  some  of  the  quarters  from  which  its  vocabu- 
lary is  augmented.     There  have  been,  from  time  to  time, 

146 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

those  who  have  so  little  understood  what  a  language  is, 
and  what  are  the  laws  which  it  obeys,  that  they  have  sought 
by  arbitrary  decrees  of  their  own  to  arrest  its  growth,  have 
pronounced  that  it  has  reached  the  limits  of  its  growth,  and 
must  not  henceforward  presume  to  develop  itself  further. 
Even  Bentley  with  all  his  vigorous  insight  into  things  is 
here  at  fault.  *  It  were  no  difficult  contrivance,'  he  says, 
'  if  the  public  had  any  regard  to  it,  to  make  the  English 
tongue  immutable,  unless  hereafter  some  foreign  nation  shall 
invade  and  overrun  us.'^^^  But  a  language  has  a  life,  as 
truly  as  a  man,  or  as  a  tree.  As  a  man,  it  must  grow  to  its 
full  stature;  unless  indeed  its  life  is  prematurely  abridged 
by  violence  from  without ;  even  as  it  is  also  submitted  to  his 
conditions  of  decay.  As  a  forest  tree,  it  will  defy  any 
feeble  bands  which  should  attempt  to  control  its  expansion, 
so  long  as  the  principle  of  growth  is  in  it;  as  a  tree  too  it 
will  continually,  while  it  casts  off  some  leaves,  be  putting 
forth  others.  And  thus  all  such  attempts  to  arrest  have 
utterly  failed,  even  when  made  under  conditions  the  most 
favourable  for  success.  The  French  Academy,  numbering 
all  or  nearly  all  the  most  distinguished  writers  of  France, 
once  sought  to  exercise  such  a  domination  over  their  own 
language,  and  might  have  hoped  to  succeed,  if  success  had 
been  possible  for  any.  But  the  language  heeded  their 
decrees  as  little  as  the  advancing  tide  heeded  those  of 
Canute.  Could  they  hope  to  keep  out  of  men's  speech, 
or  even  out  of  their  books,  however  they  excluded  from  their 
own  Dictionary,  such  words  as  'blague,'  'blaguer,'  'blagueur,' 
because,  being  born  of  the  people,  they  had  the  people's 
mark  upon  them  }  After  fruitless  resistance  for  a  time,  they 
have  in  cases  innumerable  been  compelled  to  give  way — 
though  in  favour  of  the  words  just  cited  they  have  not 
yielded  yet — and  in  each  successive  edition  of  their  Diction- 
ary have  thrown  open  its  doors  to  words  which  had  estab- 

147 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

lished  themselves  in  the  language,  and  would  hold  their 
ground  there,  altogether  indifferent  whether  they  received 
the  Academy's  seal  of  allowance  or  not.^^^ 

Littre,  the  French  scholar  who  single-handed  has  given 
to  the  world  a  far  better  Dictionary  than  that  on  which 
the  Academy  had  bestowed  the  collective  labour  of  more 
than  two  hundred  years,  shows  a  much  juster  estimate  of 
the  actual  facts  of  language.  If  ever  there  was  a  word 
born  in  the  streets,  and  bearing  about  it  tokens  of  the  place 
of  its  birth,  it  is  *  gamin  ' ;  moreover  it  cannot  be  traced 
farther  back  than  the  year  1801,  being  admitted  into  the 
Dictionary  of  the  Academy  in  1835,  though  it  may  have  lived 
some  while  before  on  the  lips  of  the  people.  Littre  found 
room  for  the  word  in  his  Dictionary.  He  did  the  same  for 
*  flaneur,'  and  for  *  rococo,'  and  for  many  more,  bearing 
similar  marks  of  a  popular  origin. ^^^  And  with  good  right; 
for  though  fashions  may  descend  from  the  upper  classes  to 
the  lower,  words,  such  I  mean  as  constitute  real  additions  to 
the  wealth  of  a  language,  ascend  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher ;  and  of  these  not  a  few,  let  fastidious  scholars  oppose 
or  ignore  them  for  a  while  as  they  may,  will  assert  a  place 
for  themselves  therein,  from  which  they  will  not  be  driven 
by  the  protests  of  all  the  scholars  and  all  the  academicians 
in  the  world.  The  world  is  ever  moving,  and  language  has 
no  choice  but  to  move  with  it.^^^ 

Those  who  make  attempts  to  close  the  door  against  all 
new  comers  are  strangely  forgetful  of  the  steps  whereby 
that  vocabulary  of  the  language,  with  which  they  are  so 
entirely  satisfied  that  they  resent  every  endeavour  to  enlarge 
it,  had  itself  been  gotten  together — namely  by  that  very 
process  which  they  are  now  seeking  by  an  arbitrary  decree 
to  arrest.  We  so  take  for  granted  that  words  with  which 
we  have  been  always  familiar,  whose  right  to  a  place  in 
the  language  no  one  dreams  now  of  challenging  or  disput- 

148 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

ing,  have  always  formed  part  of  it,  that  it  is  oftentimes  a 
surprise  to  discover  of  how  very  late  introduction  many  of 
these  actually  are;  what  an  amount,  it  may  be,  of  remon- 
strance and  resistance  some  of  them  encountered  at  the  first. 
To  take  two  or  three  Latin  examples :  Cicero,  in  employing 
*  favor,'  a  word  soon  after  used  by  everybody,  does  it  with 
an  apology,  evidently  feels  that  he  is  introducing  a  ques- 
tionable novelty,  being  probably  first  applied  to  applause 
in  the  theatre ;  '  urbanus,'  too,  in  our  sense  of  urbane,  had 
in  his  time  only  just  come  up;  *  obsequium  '  he  believes 
Terence  to  have  been  the  first  to  employ/^*  '  Soliloquium  ' 
seems "  to  us  so  natural,  indeed  so  necessary,  a  word,  this 
'  soliloquy,'  or  talking  of  a  man  with  himself  alone,  some- 
thing which  would  so  inevitably  demand  and  obtain  its  ade- 
quate expression,  that  we  learn  with  surprise  that  no  one 
spoke  of  a  '  soliloquy  '  before  Augustine ;  the  word  having 
been  coined,  as  he  distinctly  informs  us,  by  himself.^^^ 

Where  a  word  has  proved  an  unquestionable  gain,  it  is 
interesting  to  watch  it  as  it  first  emerges,  timid,  and  doubt- 
ful of  the  reception  it  will  meet  with;  and  the  interest  is 
much  enhanced  if  it  has  thus  come  forth  on  some  memorable 
occasion,  or  from  some  memorable  man.  Both  these  inter- 
ests meet  in  the  word  '  essay.'  Were  we  asked  what  is  the 
most  remarkable  volume  of  essays  which  the  world  has 
seen,  few,  capable  of  replying,  would  fail  to  answer.  Lord 
Bacon's.  But  they  were  also  the  first  collection  of  these 
which  bore  that  name;  for  we  gather  from  the  following 
passage  in  the  (intended)  dedication  of  the  volume  to 
Prince  Henry,  that  '  essay  '  was  itself  a  recent  word  in 
the  language,  and,  in  the  use  to  which  he  put  it,  perfectly 
novel:  he  says — 'To  write  just  treatises  requireth  leisure 
in  the  writer,  and  leisure  in  the  reader;  .  .  .  which  is  the 
cause  which  hath  made  me  choose  to  write  certain  brief 
notes   set  down  rather   significantly  than  curiously,  which 

149 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

I  have  called  Essays.  The  word  is  late,  but  the  thing  is 
ancient.'  From  this  dedication  we  gather  that,  little  as 
'  essays  '  now  can  be  considered  a  word  of  modesty,  depre- 
cating too  large  expectations  on  the  part  of  the  reader,  it 
had,  as  '  sketches  '  perhaps  would  have  now,  as  '  com- 
mentary '  had  in  the  Latin,  that  intention  in  its  earliest  use. 
In  this  deprecation  of  higher  pretensions  it  resembled  the 
'  philosopher '  of  Pythagoras.  Others  had  styled  them- 
selves, or  had  been  willing  to  be  styled,  '  wise  men.' 
*  Lover  of  wisdom,'  a  name  at  once  so  modest  and  so  beauti- 
ful, was  of  his  devising.^^^ 

But  while  thus  some  words  surprise  us  that  they  are  so 
new,  others  surprise  us  that  they  are  so  old.  Few,  I  should 
imagine,  are  aware  that  *  rationalist,'  and  this  in  a  theolog- 
ical, and  not  merely  a  philosophical  sense,  is  of  such  early 
date  as  it  is;  or  that  we  have  not  imported  quite  in  these 
later  times  both  the  name  and  the  thing  from  Germany. 
Yet  this  is  very  far  from  the  case.  There  were  '  rationalists  ' 
in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth;  and  these  challenging 
tlie  name  exactly  on  the  same  grounds  as  those  who  in  later 
times  have  claimed  it  for  their  own.  Thus,  the  author  of  a 
newsletter  from  London,  of  date  October  14,  I6i6,  among 
other  things  mentions :  '  There  is  a  new  sect  sprung  up 
among  them  [the  Presbyterians  and  Independents],  and 
these  are  the  Rationalists,  and  what  their  reason  dictates 
them  in  Church  or  State  stands  for  good,  until  they  be  con- 
vinced with  better; '^^"  with  more  to  the  same  effect. 
'  Christology  '  has  been  lately  characterized  as  a  monstrous 
importation  from  Germany.  I  am  quite  of  the  remon- 
strant's mind  that  English  theology  does  not  need,  and  can 
do  excellently  well  without  it;  yet  this  novelty  it  is  not; 
for  in  the  Preface  to  the  works  of  that  illustrious  Arminian 
divine  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Thomas  Jackson,  written 
in  1673  by  Benjamin  Oley,  his  friend  and  pupil,  the  follow- 

150 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

ing  passage  occurs :  '  The  reader  will  find  in  this  author  an 
eminent  excellence  in  that  part  of  divinity  which  I  make 
bold  to  call  Christology,  in  displaying  the  great  mystery  of 
godliness,  God  the  Son  manifested  in  human  flesh. '^^^ 

In  their  power  of  taking  up  foreign  words  into  healthy 
circulation  and  making  them  truly  their  own,  languages 
differ  much  from  one  another,  and  the  same  language  from 
itself  at  different  periods  of  its  life.  There  are  languages 
of  which  the  appetite  and  digestive  power,  the  assimilative 
energy,  is  at  some  periods  almost  unlimited.  Nothing  is 
too  hard  for  them;  everything  turns  to  good  with  them; 
they  will  shape  and  mould  to  their  own  uses  and  habits 
almost  any  material  offered  to  them.  This,  however, 
is  in  their  youth;  as  age  advances,  the  assimilative 
energy  diminishes.  Words  are  still  adopted;  for  this  proc- 
ess of  adoption  can  never  wholly  cease;  but  a  chemical 
amalgamation  of  the  new  with  the  old  does  not  any  longer 
find  place;  or  only  in  some  instances,  and  very  partially 
even  in  them.  The  new  comers  lie  upon  the  surface  of  the 
language;  their  sharp  corners  are  not  worn  or  rounded  off; 
they  remain  foreign  still  in  their  aspect  and  outline,  and, 
having  missed  their  opportunity  of  becoming  otherwise,  will 
remain  so  to  the  end.  Those  who  adopt,  as  with  an  inward 
misgiving  about  their  own  gift  and  power  of  stamping  them 
afresh,  make  a  conscience  of  keeping  them  in  exactly  the 
same  form  in  which  they  have  received  them;  instead  of 
conforming  them  to  the  laws  of  that  new  community  into 
which  they  are  now  received.  Nothing  will  illustrate  this 
so  well  as  a  comparison  of  different  words  of  the  same 
family,  which  have  at  different  periods  been  introduced 
into  our  language.  We  shall  find  that  those  of  an  earlier 
introduction  have  become  English  through  and  through,  while 
the  later  introduced,  belonging  to  the  same  group,  have  been 
very  far  from  undergoing  the  same  transforming  process. 

151 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Thus  'bishop/  a  word  as  old  as  the  introduction  of  Christian- 
ity into  England,  though  derived  from  '  episcopus/  is  thor- 
oughly English;  while  'episcopal/  which  has  supplanted 
'  bishoply/  is  only  a  Latin  word  in  an  English  dress. 
'  Alms/  too,  is  thoroughly  English,  and  English  which  has 
descended  to  us  from  far ;  the  very  shape  in  which  we  have 
the  word,  one  syllable  for  '  eleemosyna  '  of  six,  sufficiently 
testifying  this ;  '  letters,'  as  Home  Tooke  observes,  '  like 
soldiers,  being  apt  to  desert  and  drop  off  in  a  long  march.' 
The  seven-syllabled  and  awkward  *  eleemosynary  '  is  of  far 
more  recent  date.  Or  sometimes  this  comparison  is  still 
more  striking,  when  it  is  not  merely  words  of  the  same 
family,  but  the  very  same  word  which  has  been  twice 
adopted,  at  an  earlier  period  and  a  later — ^the  earlier  form 
will  be  thoroughly  English,  as  '  palsy  ' ;  the  later  will  be 
only  a  Greek  or  Latin  word  spelt  with  English  letters,  as 

*  paralysis.'       '  Dropsy,'     *  quinsy,'     *  megrim,'     '  squirrel,' 

*  rickets,'  '  surgeon,'  *  tansy,'  '  dittany,'  '  daffodil,'  and  many 
more  words  that  one  might  name,  have  nothing  of  strangers 
or  foreigners  about  them,  have  made  themselves  quite  at 
home  in  English.  So  entirely  is  their  physiognomy  native, 
that  it  would  be  difficult  even  to  suspect  them  to  be  of  Greek 
descent,  as  they  all  are.  Nor  has  '  kickshaws  '  anything 
about  it  now  which  would  compel  us  at  once  to  recognize 
in  it  the  French  *  quelques  choses  '^"^ — *  French  kickshose/ 
as  with  allusion  to  the  quarter  from  which  it  came,  and  while 
the  memory  of  that  was  yet  fresh  in  men's  minds,  it  was 
often  called  by  our  early  writers. 

A  very  notable  fact  about  new  words,  and  a  very  signal  tes- 
timony of  their  popular  origin,  of  their  birth  from  the  bosom 
of  the  people,  is  the  difficulty  so  often  found  in  tracing  their 
pedigree.  \Vlien  the  causae  vocinn  are  sought,  as  they  very 
fitly  are,  and  out  of  much  better  than  mere  curiosity,  for 
the  causce  rerum   are  very  often  wrapt  up  in  them,  those 

152 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

continually  elude  our  research.  Nor  does  it  fare  thus  merely 
with  words  to  which  attention  was  called,  and  interest  about 
their  etymology  awakened,  only  after  they  had  been  long 
in  popular  use — for  that  such  should  often  give  scope  to 
idle  guesses,  should  altogether  refuse  to  give  up  their  secret, 
is  nothing  strange — but  words  will  not  seldom  perplex  and 
baffle  the  inquirer  even  where  an  investigation  of  their  origin 
has  been  undertaken  almost  as  soon  as  they  have  come  into 
existence.  Their  rise  is  mysterious;  like  almost  all  acts  of 
becoming,  it  veils  itself  in  deepest  obscurity.  They  emerge, 
they  are  in  everybody's  mouth ;  but  when  it  is  inquired  from 
whence  they  are,  nobody  can  tell.  They  are  but  of  yester- 
day, and  yet  with  inexplicable  rapidity  they  have  already 
lost  all  traces  of  the  precise  circumstances  under  which 
they  were  born. 

The  rapidity  with  which  this  comes  to  pass  is  nowhere 
more  striking  than  in  the  names  of  political  or  religious 
parties,  and  above  all  in  names  of  slight  or  of  contempt. 
Thus  Baxter  tells  us  that  when  he  wrote  there  already 
existed  two  explanations  of  '  Roundhead,'^^^  a  word  not 
nearly  so  old  as  himself.  How  much  has  been  written  about 
the  origin  of  the  German  '  Ketzer  '  (=:  our  '  heretic  '), 
though  there  can  scarcely  be  a  doubt  that  the  Cathari  make 
their  presence  felt  in  this  word.  Hardly  less  has  been 
disputed  about  the  French  'cagot.'  Is  'Lollard,'  or  'Loller' 
as  we  read  it  in  Chaucer,  from  '  lollen,'  to  chaunt  ?  that  is, 
does  it  mean  the  chaunting  or  canting  people?  or  had  the 
Lollards  their  title  from  a  principal  person  among  them  of 
this  name,  who  suffered  at  the  stake? — to  say  nothing  of 
'  lolium,'  found  by  some  in  the  name,  these  men  being  as 
tares  among  the  wholesome  wheat.^^^  The  origin  of 
'  Huguenot,'  as  applied  to  the  French  Protestants,  was  al- 
ready a  matter  of  doubt  and  discussion  in  the  lifetime  of 
those  who   first  bore  it.     A  distinguished  German  scholar 

153 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

has  lately  enumerated  fifteen  explanations  which  have  been 
offered  of  the  word.^^^  How  did  the  lay  sisters  in  the  Low 
Countries^  the  '  Beguines/  get  their  name?  Many  deriva- 
tions have  been  suggested,  but  the  most  probable  account 
is  that  given  in  Ducange,  that  the  appellative  was  derived 
from  *  le  Begue/  the  Stammerer,  the  nickname  of  Lambert, 
a  priest  of  Liege  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  founder  of 
the  order.  Were  the  '  Waldenses  '  so  called  from  one 
Waldus,  to  whom  these  '  Poor  Men  of  Lj^ons,'  as  they  were 
at  first  called,  owed  their  origin  ?  As  little  can  any  one  tell 
us  with  any  certainty  why  the  '  Paulicians  '  and  the  '  Pater- 
ines  '  were  severally  named  as  they  are ;  or,  to  go  much 
further  back,  why  the  '  Essenes  '  were  so  called.^®^  From 
whence  had  Johannes  Scotus,  who  anticipated  so  much  of 
the  profoundest  thinking  of  later  times,  his  title  of 
'  Erigena,'  and  did  that  title  mean  Irish-born,  or  what? 
'  Prester  John  '  was  a  name  given  in  the  Middle  Ages  to 
a  priest-king,  real  or  imaginary,  of  wide  dominion  in  Cen- 
tral Asia.  But  whether  there  was  ever  actually  such  a 
person,  and  what  was  intended  by  his  name,  is  all  involved 
in  the  deepest  obscurity.  How  perplexing  are  many  of  the 
Church's  most  familiar  terms,  and  terms  the  oftenest  in 
the  mouth  of  her  children ;  thus  her  *  Ember  '  days ;  her 
*  Collects  ' ;  ^*^^  her  '  Breviary  ' ;  her  *  Whitsunday  ' :  the  deri- 
vation of  '  Mass  *  itself  not  being  lifted  above  all  question. 
As  little  can  any  one  inform  us  why  the  Roman  military 
standard  on  which  Constantine  inscribed  the  symbols  of  the 
Christian  faith  should  have  been  called  *  Labarum.'  And 
yet  the  inquiry  began  early.  A  father  of  the  Greek  Church, 
almost  a  contemporary  of  Constantine,  can  do  no  better 
than  suggest  that  *  labarum '  is  equivalent  to  '  laborum,' 
and  that  it  was  so  called  because  in  that  victorious  standard 
was  the  end  of  labour  and  toil  (finis  laborum)  !  ^^^  The 
'  ciborium  '  of  the  early  Church  is  an  equal  perplexity;  ^^'^ 

154 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

and  '  chapel '  (capella)  not  less.  All  later  investigations 
have  failed  effectually  to  dissipate  the  mystery  of  the  '  San- 
graal.'  So  too,  after  all  that  has  been  written  upon  it,  the 
true  etymology  of  '  mosaic  '  remains  a  question  still. 

And  not  in  Church  matters  only,  but  everywhere,  we  meet 
with  the  same  oblivion  resting  on  the  origin  of  words.  The 
Romans,  one  might  beforehand  have  assumed,  must  have 
known  very  well  why  they  called  themselves  *  Quirites,'  but 
it  is  manifest  that  this  knowledge  was  not  theirs.  Why  they 
were  addressed  as  Patres  Conscripti  is  a  matter  unsettled 
still.  They  could  have  given,  one  would  think,  an  expla- 
nation  of   their   naming   an   outlying   conquered   region   a 

*  province.'  Unfortunately  they  offer  half  a  dozen  expla- 
nations, among  which  we  may  make  our  own  choice.  *  Ger- 
man '  and  '  Germany '  were  names  comparatively  recent 
when  Tacitus  wrote ;  but  he  owns  that  he  has  nothing  trust- 
worthy to  say  of  their  history;  ^*^^  later  inquirers  have  not 
mended  the  matter.^^* 

The  derivation  of  words  which  are  the  very  key  to  the 
understanding  of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  often  itself  wrapt 
in  obscurity.  On  *  fief  '  and  *  feudal '  how  much  has  been 
disputed.^^'^  *  Morganatic  '  marriages  are  recognized  by  the 
public  law  of  Germany,  but  why  called  *  morganatic  '  is 
unsettled  still.  Gypsies  in  German  are  '  Zigeuner  ' ;  but 
when  this  is  resolved  into  *  Ziehgauner,'  or  roaming  thieves, 
the  explanation  has  about  as  much  scientific  value  as  the 
not  less  ingenious  explanation  of  '  Saturnus  '  as  satur 
annis ;  ^~^  of  '  severitas  '   as  saeva  Veritas    (Augustine)  ;   of 

*  cadaver  '  as  composed  of  the  first  syllables  of  caro  data, 
vermihus.^^^  Littre  has  evidently  little  confidence  in  the 
explanation  commonly  offered  of  the  '  Salic  '  law,  namely, 
that  it  was  the  law  which  prevailed  on  the  banks  of  the 
Saal.1^2 

And  the  modern  world  has  unsolved  riddles  innumerable 

155 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

of  like  kind.  Why  was  '  Canada  '  so  named  ?  And  whence 
is  *  Yankee/  a  title  little  more  than  a  century  old  ?  having 
made  its  first  appearance  in  a  book  printed  at  Boston,  U.S., 
1765.  Is  '  Hottentot '  an  African  word,  or,  more  probably, 
a  Dutch  or  Low  Frisian;  and  which,  if  any,  of  the  current 
explanations  of  it  should  be  accepted.^  ^"^  Shall  we  allow 
Humboldt's  derivation  of  '  cannibal,'  and  find  '  Carib  '  in 
it?  Whence  did  the  *  Chouans,'  the  insurgent  royalists  of 
Brittany,  obtain  their  title  .^  When  did  California  obtain 
its  name,  and  wliy.^  Questions  such  as  these,  to  which  we 
can  give  no  answer  or  a  very  doubtful  one,  might  be  multi- 
plied without  end.  Littre  somewhere  in  his  great  Dictionary 
expresses  the  misgiving  with  which  what  he  calls  '  anecdotal 
etymology  '  fills  him ;  while  yet  it  is  to  this  that  we  are 
continually  tempted  here  to  have  recourse. 

But  consider  now  one  or  two  words  which  have  not  lost 
the  secret  of  their  origin,  and  note  liow  easih^  they  might 
have  done  this,  and  having  once  lost,  how  unlikely  it  is 
that  any  searching  would  have  recovered  it.  The  traveller 
Burton  tells  us  that  the  coarse  cloth  which  is  the  medium  of 
exchange,  in  fact  the  money  of  Eastern  Africa,  is  called 
*  merkani.'  The  word  is  a  native  corruption  of  '  American,' 
the  cloth  being  manufactured  in  America  and  sold  under 
this  name.  But  suppose  a  change  should  take  place  in  the 
country  from  which  this  cloth  was  brought,  men  little  by 
little  forgetting  that  it  ever  had  been  imported  from  Amer- 
ica, who  then  would  divine  the  secret  of  the  word.'*  So  too, 
if  the  tradition  of  the  derivation  of  '  paraffin  '  were  once 
let  go  and  lost,  it  would,  I  imagine,  scarcely  be  recovered. 
Mere  ingenuity  would  scarcely  divine  the  fact  that  a  certain 
oil  was  so  named  because  '  parum  affinis,'  having  little  affin- 
ity which  chemistry  could  detect,  with  any  other  substance. 
So,  too,  it  is  not  very  probable  that  the  derivation  of  '  lico- 
rice,' once  lost,  would  again  be  recovered.     It  would  exist, 

156 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

at  the  best,  but  as  one  guess  among  many.  There  can  be 
no  difficulty  about  it  when  we  find  it  spelt,  as  we  do  in 
Fuller,  '  glycyrize  or  liquoris.' 

Those  which  I  cite  are  but  a  handful  of  examples  of  the 
way  in  which  words  forget,  or  under  predisposing  condi- 
tions might  forget,  the  circumstances  of  their  birth.  Now 
if  we  could  believe  in  any  merely  arbitrary/  words,  standing 
in  connexion  with  nothing  but  the  mere  lawless  caprice  of 
some  inventor,  the  impossibility  of  tracing  their  derivation 
would  be  nothing  strange.  Indeed  it  would  be  lost  labour 
to  seek  for  the  parentage  of  all  words,  when  many  probably 
had  none.  But  there  is  no  such  thing;  there  is  no  word 
which  is  not,  as  the  Spanish  gentleman  loves  to  call  himself, 
an  *  hidalgo,*  or  son  of  something.  All  are  embodiments, 
more  or  less  successful,  of  a  sensation,  a  thought,  or  a  fact; 
or  if  of  more  fortuitous  birth,  still  they  attach  themselves 
somewhere  to  the  already  subsisting  world  of  words  and 
things,^^'*  and  have  their  point  of  contact  with  it  and  depart- 
ure from  it,  not  always  discoverable,  as  we  see,  but  yet 
always  existing. ^^^  And  thus,  when  a  word  entirely  refuses 
to  tell  us  anything  about  itself,  it  must  be  regarded  as  a 
riddle  which  no  one  has  succeeded  in  solving,  a  lock  of  which 
no  man  has  found  the  key — but  still  a  riddle  which  has  a 
solution,  a  lock  for  which  there  is  a  key,  though  now,  it  may 
be,  irrevocably  lost.  And  this  difficulty — it  is  oftentimes  an 
impossibility — of  tracing  the  genealogy  even  of  words  of  a 
very  recent  formation,  is,  as  I  observed,  a  strong  argument 
for  the  birth  of  the  most  notable  of  these  out  of  the  heart 
and  from  the  lips  of  the  people.  Had  they  first  appeared 
in  books,  something  in  the  context  would  most  probably 
explain  them.  Had  they  issued  from  the  schools  of  the 
learned,  these  would  not  have  failed  to  leave  a  recognizable 
stamp  and  mark  upon  them. 

There  is,  indeed,  another  way  in  which  obscurity  may  rest 

157 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

on  a  new  word,  or  a  word  employed  in  a  new  sense.  It 
may  tell  the  story  of  its  birth,  of  the  word  or  words  which 
compose  it,  may  so  bear  these  on  its  front,  that  there  can  be 
no  question  here,  while  yet  its  purpose  and  intention  may  be 
hopelessly  hidden  from  our  eyes.  The  secret  once  lost, 
is  not  again  to  be  recovered.  Thus  no  one  has  called,  or 
could  call,  in  question  the  derivation  of  *  apocryphal,'  that 
it  means  *  hidden  away.'  When,  however,  we  begin  to  in- 
quire why  certain  books  which  the  Church  either  set  below 
the  canonical  Scriptures,  or  rejected  altogether,  were  called 
'  apocryphal,'  then  a  long  and  doubtful  discussion  com- 
mences. Was  it  because  their  origin  was  hidden  to  the  early 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  thus  reasonable  suspicions  of 
their  authenticity  entertained.'^  ^'^  Or  was  it  because  they 
were  mysteriously  kept  out  of  sight  and  hidden  by  the 
heretical  sects  which  boasted  themselves  in  their  exclusive 
possession?  Or  was  it  that  they  were  books  not  laid  up  in 
the  Church  chest,  but  hidden  away  in  obscure  corners?  Or 
were  they  books  worthier  to  be  hidden  than  to  be  brought 
forward  and  read  to  the  faithful? — for  all  these  explana- 
tions have  been  offered,  and  none  with  such  superiority  of 
proof  on  its  side  as  to  have  deprived  the  others  of  all  right 
to  be  heard.  In  the  same  way  there  is  no  question  that 
'  tragedy  '  is  the  song  of  the  goat ;  but  why  this,  whether 
because  a  goat  was  the  prize  for  the  best  performers  of  that 
song  in  which  the  germs  of  Greek  tragedy  lay,  or  because 
the  first  actors  were  dressed  like  satyrs  in  goatskins,  is  a 
question  which  will  now  remain  unsettled  to  the  end.^^^ 
You  know  what  '  leonine  '  verses  are ;  or,  if  you  do  not,  it 
is  very  easy  to  explain.  They  are  Latin  hexameters  into 
which  an  internal  rhyme  has  forced  its  way.  The  follow- 
ing, for  example,  are  all  *  leonine  ' : 

Qui  pingit  JIore?n  non  pingit  floris  odorem : 

Si  quis  det  nuumos,  ne  quaere  in  dentibus  amies, 

Una  avis  in  dextrd  melior  quam  quattuor  extra. 

158 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

The  word  has  plainly  to  do  with  '  leo  '  in  some  shape  or 
other ;  but  are  these  .verses  leonine  from  one  Leo  or  Leo- 
linuSj  who  first  composed  them?  or  because,  as  the  lion  is 
king  of  beasts,  so  this,  in  monkish  estimation,  was  the  king 
of  metres?  or  from  some  other  cause  which  none  have  so 
much  as  guessed  at?  ^^^  It  is  a  mystery  which  none  has 
solved.  That  frightful  system  of  fagging  which  made  in 
the  seventeenth  century  the  German  Universities  a  sort  of 
hell  upon  earth,  and  which  was  known  by  the  name  of 
'  pennalism,'  we  can  scarcely  disconnect  from  '  penna  ' ; 
while  yet  this  does  not  help  us  to  any  effectual  scattering  of 
the  mystery  which  rests  upon  the  term.^^^  The  connexion 
of  *  dictator  '  with  *  dicere,'  *  dictare,'  is  obvious ;  not  so  the 
reason  why  the  *  dictator  '  obtained  his  name.  *  Sycophant ' 
and  *  superstition  '  are  words,  one  Greek  and  one  Latin,  of 
the  same  character.  No  one  doubts  of  what  elements  they 
are  composed,  and  yet  their  secret  has  been  so  lost,  that, 
except  as  a  more  or  less  plausible  guess,  it  can  never  now  be 
recovered.^®^ 

But  I  must  conclude.  I  may  seem  in  this  present  lecture 
a  little  to  have  outrun  your  needs,  and  to  have  sometimes 
moved  in  a  sphere  too  remote  from  that  in  which  your  future 
work  will  lie.  And  yet  it  is  in  truth  very  difficult  to  affirm 
of  any  words,  that  they  do  not  touch  us,  do  not  in  some  way 
bear  upon  our  studies,  on  what  we  shall  hereafter  have  to 
teach,  or  shall  desire  to  learn ;  that  there  are  any  conquests 
which  language  makes  that  concern  only  a  select  few,  and 
may  be  regarded  indifferently  by  all  others.  For  it  is  here 
as  with  many  inventions  in  the  arts  and  luxuries  of  life; 
which,  being  at  the  first  the  exclusive  privilege  and  posses- 
sion of  the  wealthy  and  refined,  gradually  descend  into 
lower  strata  of  society,  until  at  length  what  were  once  the 
elegancies  and  luxuries  of  a  few,  have  become  the  decencies, 
wellnigh  the  necessities,  of  all.  Not  otherwise  there  are 
words,  once  only  on  the  lips  of  philosophers  or  theologians, 

159 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

of  the  deeper  thinkers  of  their  time,  or  of  those  directly 
interested  in  their  speculations,  which  step  by  step  have 
come  down,  not  debasing  themselves  in  this  act  of  becom- 
ing popular,  but  training  and  elevating  an  ever-increasing 
number  of  persons  to  enter  into  their  meaning,  till  at  length 
they  have  become  truly  a  part  of  the  nation's  common  stock, 
'  household  words,'  used  easily  and  intelligently  by  nearly 
aU. 

I  cannot  better  conclude  this  lecture  than  by  quoting  a 
passage,  one  among  many,  which  expresses  with  a  rare  elo- 
quence all  I  have  been  labouring  to  utter;  for  this  truth, 
which  many  have  noticed,  hardly  any  has  set  forth  with 
the  same  fulness  of  illustration,  or  the  same  sense  of  its 
importance,  as  the  author  of  The  Philosophy  of  the  Induc- 
tive Sciences.  *  Language,'  he  observes,  *  is  often  called 
an  instrument  of  thought,  but  it  is  also  the  nutriment  of 
thought;  or  rather,  it  is  the  atmosphere  in  which  thought 
lives;  a  medium  essential  to  the  activity  of  our  speculative 
powers,  although  invisible  and  imperceptible  in  its  oper- 
ation; and  an  element  modifying,  by  its  qualities  and 
changes,  the  growth  and  complexion  of  the  faculties  which 
it  feeds.  In  this  way  the  influence  of  preceding  discoveries 
upon  subsequent  ones,  of  the  past  upon  the  present,  is 
most  penetrating  and  universal,  although  most  subtle 
and  difficult  to  trace.  The  most  familiar  words  and 
phrases  are  connected  by  imperceptible  ties  with  the  reason- 
ings and  discoveries  of  former  men  and  distant  times. 
Their  knowledge  is  an  inseparable  part  of  ours :  the  present 
generation  inherits  and  uses  the  scientific  wealth  of  all 
the  past.  And  this  is  the  fortune,  not  only  of  the  great  and 
rich  in  the  intellectual  world,  of  those  who  have  the  key 
to  the  ancient  storehouses,  and  who  have  accumulated  treas- 
ures of  their  own,  but  the  humblest  inquirer,  while  he  puts 
his  reasonings  into  words,  benefits  by  the  labours  of  the 

160 


ON     THE     RISE     OF     NEW     WORDS 

greatest.  WTien  he  counts  his  little  wealth,  he  finds  he  has 
in  his  hands  coins  which  bear  the  image  and  superscription 
of  ancient  and  modern  intellectual  dynasties,  and  that  in 
virtue  of  this  possession  acquisitions  are  in  his  power,  solid 
knowledge  within  his  reach,  which  none  could  ever  have 
attained  to,  if  it  were  not  that  the  gold  of  truth  once  dug 
out  of  the  mind  circulates  more  and  more  widely  among 
mankind.' 


161 


LECTURE    6 

On  the  Distinction  of  Words 

Synonyms,  and  the  study  of  synonyms,  with  the  advan- 
tages to  be  derived  from  a  careful  noting  of  the  distinction 
between  them,  constitute  the  subject  with  which  in  my  pres- 
ent Lecture  I  shall  deal.  But  what,  you  may  ask,  is  meant 
when,  comparing  certain  words  with  one  another,  we  affirm 
of  them  that  they  are  synonyms?  We  imply  that,  with 
great  and  essential  resemblances  of  meaning,  they  have  at 
the  same  time  small,  subordinate,  and  partial  differences — 
these  differences  being  such  as  either  originally,  and  on  the 
strength  of  their  etymology,  were  born  with  them ;  or  differ- 
ences which  they  have  by  usage  acquired ;  or  such  as,  though 
nearly  or  altogether  latent  now,  they  are  capable  of  receiv- 
ing at  the  hands  of  wise  and  discreet  masters  of  language. 
Synonyms  are  thus  words  of  like  significance  in  the  main; 
with  a  large  extent  of  ground  which  they  occupy  in  common, 
but  also  with  something  of  their  own,  private  and  peculiar, 
which  they  do  not  share  with  one  another. ^^^ 

So  soon  as  the  term  *  synonym  '  is  defined  thus,  it  will 
be  at  once  perceived  by  any  acquainted  with  its  etymology, 
that,  strictly  speaking,  it  is  a  misnomer,  and  is  given,  with 
a  certain  inaccuracy  and  impropriety,  to  words  which  stand 
in  such  relations  as  I  have  just  traced  to  one  another;  since 
in  strictness  of  speech  the  terms,  '  synonyms  '  and  *  synon- 
ymous,' applied  to  words,  affirm  of  them  that  they  cover 
not  merely  almost,  but  altogether,  the  same  extent  of  mean- 
ing, that  they  are  in  their  signification  perfectly  identical 
and  coincident;  circles,  so  to  speak,  with  the  same  centre 

162 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OP   WORDS 

and  the  same  circumference.  The  term,  however,  is  not 
ordinarily  so  used;  it  evidently  is  not  so  by  such  as  under- 
take to  trace  out  the  distinction  between  synonyms;  for, 
without  venturing  to  deny  that  there  may  be  such  perfect 
synonyms,  words,  that  is,  with  this  absolute  coincidence  of 
the  one  with  the  other,  yet  these  could  not  be  the  objects  of 
any  such  discrimination;  since,  where  no  real  difference 
exists,  it  would  be  lost  labour  and  the  exercise  of  a  perverse 
ingenuity  to  attempt  to  draw  one  out. 

There  are,  indeed,  those  who  assert  that  words  in 
one  language  are  never  exactly  synonymous,  or  in  all 
respects  commensurate,  with  words  in  another;  that,  when 
they  are  compared  with  one  another,  there  is  always 
more,  or  something  less,  or  something  different,  in  one 
as  compared  with  the  other,  which  hinders  this  com- 
plete equivalence.  And,  those  words  being  excepted  which 
designate  objects  in  their  nature  absolutely  incapable 
of  a  more  or  less  and  of  every  qualitative  difference,  I  should 
be  disposed  to  consider  other  exceptions  to  this  assertion 
exceedingly  rare.  '  In  all  languages  whatever,'  to  quote 
Bentley's  words,  *  a  word  of  a  moral  or  of  a  political  signifi- 
cance, containing  several  complex  ideas  arbitrarily  joined 
together,  has  seldom  any  correspondent  word  in  any  other 
language  which  extends  to  all  these  ideas.'  Nor  is  it  hard 
to  trace  reasons  sufficient  why  this  should  be  so.  For  what, 
after  all,  is  a  word,  but  the  enclosure  for  human  use  of  a 
certain  district,  larger  or  smaller,  from  the  vast  outfield  of 
thought  or  feeling  or  fact,  and  in  this  way  a  bringing  of  it 
under  human  cultivation,  a  rescuing  of  it  for  human  uses? 
But  how  extremely  unlikely  it  is  that  nations,  drawing  quite 
independently  of  one  another  these  lines  of  enclosure, 
should  draw  them  in  all  or  most  cases  exactly  in  the  same 
direction,  neither  narrower  nor  wider;  how  almost  inevita- 
ble, on  the  contrary,  that  very  often  the  lines  should  not 

163 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

coincide — and  this,  even  supposing  no  moral  forces  at  work 
to  disturb  the  falling  of  the  lines. 

How  immense  and  instructive  a  field  of  comparison  be- 
tween languages  does  this  fact  lay  open  to  us;  while  it  is 
sufficient  to  drive  a  translator  with  a  high  ideal  of  the  task 
which  he  has  undertaken  well-nigh  to  despair.  For  indeed 
in  the  transferring  of  any  matter  of  high  worth  from  one 
language  to  another  there  are  losses  involved,  which  no 
labour,  no  skill,  no  genius,  no  mastery  of  one  language  or 
of  both  can  prevent.  The  translator  may  have  worthily 
done  his  part,  may  have  '  turned  '  and  not  *  overturned '  his 
original  (St.  Jerome  complains  that  in  his  time  many  ver- 
siones  deserved  to  be  called  eversiones  rather)  ;  he  may  have 
given  the  lie  to  the  Italian  proverb,  '  Traduttori  Traditori/ 
or  *  Translators  Traitors,'  men,  that  is,  who  do  not  *  render  ' 
but  '  surrender  '  their  author's  meaning,  and  yet  for  all  this 
the  losses  of  which  I  speak  will  not  have  been  avoided. 
Translations,  let  them  have  been  carried  through  with  what 
skill  they  may,  are,  as  one  has  said,  belles  infideles  at  the 
best. 

How  often  in  the  translation  of  Holy  Scripture  from  the 
language  wherein  it  was  first  delivered  into  some  other  which 
offers  more  words  than  one  whereby  some  all-important  word 
in  the  original  record  may  be  rendered,  the  perplexity  has 
been  great  which  of  these  sliould  be  preferred.  Not,  indeed, 
that  there  was  here  an  embarrassment  of  riches,  but  rather 
an  embarrassment  of  poverty.  Each,  it  maj^^  be,  has  advan- 
tages of  its  own,  but  each  also  its  own  drawbacks  and  short- 
comings. There  is  nothing  but  a  choice  of  difficulties  any- 
how, and  whichever  is  selected,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
treasure  of  God's  thought  has  been  committed  to  an  earth- 
en vessel,  and  one  whose  earthiness  will  not  fail  at  this 
point  or  at  that  to  appear ;  while  yet,  with  all  this,  of  what 
far-reaching  importance  it  is  that  the  best,  that  is,  the  least 

164 


ON    THE    DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

inadequate,  word  should  be  chosen.  Thus  the  missionary- 
translator,  if  he  be  at  all  aware  of  the  awful  implement 
which  he  is  wielding,  of  the  tremendous  crisis  in  a  people's 
spiritual  life  which  has  arrived,  when  their  language  is 
first  made  the  vehicle  of  the  truths  of  Revelation,  will  often 
tremble  at  the  work  he  has  in  hand;  he  will  tremble  lest 
he  should  permanently  lower  or  confuse  the  whole  spiritual 
life  of  a  people,  by  choosing  a  meaner  and  letting  go  a 
nobler  word  for  the  setting  forth  of  some  leading  truth  of 
redemption ;  and  yet  the  choice  how  difficult,  the  nobler  itself 
falling  how  infinitely  below  his  desires,  and  below  the  truth 
of  which  he  would  make  it  the  bearer. 

Even  those  who  are  wholly  ignorant  of  Chinese  can  yet 
perceive  how  vast  the  spiritual  interests  which  are  at  stake 
in  China,  how  much  will  be  won  or  how  much  lost  for  the 
whole  spiritual  life  of  its  people,  it  may  be  for  ages  to  come, 
according  as  the  right  or  the  wrong  word  is  selected  by 
our  missionaries  there  for  designating  the  true  and  the  liv- 
ing God.  As  many  of  us  indeed  as  are  ignorant  of  the 
language  can  be  no  judges  in  the  controversy  which  on  this 
matter  is,  or  was  lately,  carried  on ;  but  we  can  all  feel  how 
vital  the  question,  how  enormous  the  interests  at  stake ;  while, 
not  less,  having  heard  the  allegations  on  the  one  side  and 
on  the  other,  we  must  own  that  there  is  only  an  alternative 
of  difficulties  here.  Nearer  home  there  have  been  difficulties 
of  the  same  kind.  At  the  Reformation,  for  example,  when 
Latin  was  still  more  or  less  the  language  of  theology,  how 
earnest  a  controversy  raged  round  the  word  in  the  Greek 
Testament  which  we  have  rendered  *  repentance ' ;  whether 
'  poenitentia  '  should  be  allowed  to  stand,  hallowed  by  long 
usage  as  it  was,  or  '  resipiscentia,'  as  many  of  the  Reformers 
preferred,  should  be  substituted  in  its  room,  and  how  much 
on  either  side  could  be  urged.  Not  otherwise,  at  an  earlier 
date,  *  Sermo  '  and  '  Verbum '  contended  for  the  honour  of 

165 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

rendering  the  '  Logos  '  of  St.  John ;  though  here  there  can 
be  no  serious  doubt  on  which  side  the  advantage  lay,  and 
that  in  '  Verbum  '  the  right  word  was  chosen. 

But  this  of  the  relation  of  words  in  one  language  to  words 
in  another,  and  of  all  the  questions  which  may  thus  be 
raised,  is  a  sea  too  large  for  me  to  launch  upon  now;  and 
with  thus  much  said  to  invite  you  to  have  open  eyes  and  ears 
for  such  questions,  seeing  that  they  are  often  full  of  teach- 
ing,^ ^^  I  must  leave  this  subject,  and  limit  myself  in  this 
Lecture  to  a  comparison  between  words,  not  in  different  lan- 
guages, but  in  the  same. 

Synonyms  then,  as  the  term  is  generally  understood,  and 
as  I  shall  use  it,  are  words  in  the  same  language  with 
slight  differences  either  already  established  between  them, 
or  potentially  subsisting  in  them.  They  are  not  on  the  one 
side  words  absolutely  identical,  for  such,  as  has  been  said 
already,  afford  no  room  for  discrimination;  but  neither  on 
the  other  side  are  they  words  only  remotely  similar  to  one 
another;  for  the  differences  between  these  last  will  be  self- 
evident,  will  so  lie  on  the  surface  and  proclaim  themselves 
to  all,  that  it  would  be  as  superfluous  an  office  as  holding  a 
candle  to  the  sun  to  attempt  to  make  this  clearer  than  it 
already  is.  It  may  be  desirable  to  trace  and  fix  the  differ- 
ence between  scarlet  and  crimson,  for  these  might  easily 
be  confounded;  but  who  would  think  of  so  doing  between 
scarlet  and  green?  or  between  covetousness  and  avarice; 
while  it  would  be  idle  and  superfluous  to  do  the  same  for 
covetousness  and  pride.  They  ipQUst  be  words  more  or  less 
liable  to  confusion,  but  which  jet  ought  not  to  be  con- 
founded, as  one  has  said;  in  which  there  originally  inhered 
a  difference,  or  between  which,  though  once  absolutely 
identical,  such  has  gradually  grown  up,  and  so  established 
itself  in  the  use  of  the  best  writers,  and  in  the  instinct 
of  the  best  speakers  of  the  tongue,  that  it  claims  to  be 
openly  recognized  by  all. 

166 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

But  here  an  interesting  question  presents  itself  to  us: 
How  do  languages  come  to  possess  synonyms  of  this  latter 
class^  which  are  differenced  not  by  etymology,  nor  by  any 
other  deep-lying  cause,  but  only  by  usage?  Now  if  lan- 
guages had  been  made  by  agreement,  of  course  no  such  syn- 
onyms as  these  could  exist;  for  when  once  a  word  had  been 
found  which  was  the  adequate  representative  of  a  thought, 
feeling,  or  fact,  no  second  one  would  have  been  sought. 
But  languages  are  the  result  of  processes  very  different 
from  this,  and  far  less  formal  and  regular.  Various  tribes, 
each  with  its  own  dialect,  kindred  indeed,  but  in  many 
respects  distinct,  coalesce  into  one  people,  and  cast  their 
contributions  of  language  into  a  common  stock.  Thus  the 
French  possess  many  synonyms  from  the  langue  d'Oc  and 
langue  d'Oil,  each  having  contributed  its  word  for  one  and 
the  same  thing ;  thus  '  atre  '  and  *  foyer,'  both  for  hearth. 
Sometimes  different  tribes  of  the  same  people  have  the  same 
word,  yet  in  forms  sufficiently  different  to  cause  that  both 
remain,  but  as  words  distinct  from  one  another;  thus  in 
French  '  chaire  '  and  *  chaise  '  are  dialectic  variations  of 
the  same  word;  just  as  in  German,  *  Odem  '  and  *  Athem ' 
were  no  more  than  dialectic  differences  at  the  first.  Or 
again,  a  conquering  people  have  fixed  themselves  in  the 
midst  of  a  conquered;  they  impose  their  dominion,  but  do 
not  succeed  in  imposing  their  language;  nay,  being  few  in 
number,  they  find  themselves  at  last  compelled  to  adopt  the 
language  of  the  conquered;  yet  not  so  but  that  a  certain 
compromise  between  the  two  languages  finds  place.  One 
carries  the  day,  but  on  the  condition  that  it  shall  admit  as 
naturalized  denizens  a  number  of  the  words  of  the  other; 
which  in  some  instances  expel,  but  in  many  others  subsist 
as  synonyms  side  by  side  with,  the  native  words. 

There  are  causes  of  the  existence  of  synonyms  which 
reach  far  back  into  the  history  of  a  nation  and  a  language; 
but  other  causes  at  a  later  period  are  also  at  work.    When  a 

167 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

written  literature  springs  up,  authors  familiar  with  variou.'? 
foreign  tongues  import  from  one  and  another  words  which 
are  not  absolutely  required,  which  are  oftentimes  rather 
luxuries  than  necessities.  Sometimes,  having  a  very  suffi- 
cient word  of  their  own,  they  must  needs  go  and  look  for  a 
finer  one,  as  they  esteem  it,  from  abroad;  as,  for  instance, 
the  Latin  having  its  own  expressive  '  succinum  '  (from  *  suc- 
cus  '),  for  amber,  some  must  import  from  the  Greek  the 
ambiguous  *  electrum.'  Of  these  thus  proposed  as  candi- 
dates for  admission,  some  fail  to  obtain  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship, and  after  longer  or  shorter  probation  are  rejected;  it 
may  be,  never  advance  beyond  their  first  proposer.  Enough, 
however,  receive  the  stamp  of  popular  allowance  to  create 
embarrassment  for  a  while ;  until,  that  is,  their  relations  with 
the  already  existing  words  are  adjusted.  As  a  single  illus- 
tration of  the  various  quarters  from  which  the  English  has 
thus  been  augmented  and  enriched,  I  would  instance  the 
words  '  craft,'  *  guile,'  *  trick,'  '  artifice,'  and  '  stratagem,' 
and  remind  you  of  the  various  sources  frofti  which  we  have 
drawn  them.  Here  '  craft '  is  Old-English,  *  trick '  is 
Dutch,  '  guile  '  is  Old-French,  *  artificium  '  is  Latin,  and 
(TTpaTyyrjfjia    Greek. 

By  and  by,  however,  as  a  language  becomes  itself  an 
object  of  closer  attention,  at  the  same  time  that  society, 
advancing  from  a  simpler  to  a  more  complex  condition,  has 
more  things  to  designate,  more  thoughts  to  utter,  and  more 
distinctions  to  draw,  it  is  felt  as  a  waste  of  resources  to 
employ  two  or  more  words  for  the  designating  of  one  and 
the  same  thing.  Men  feel,  and  rightly,  that  with  a  bound- 
less world  lying  around  them  and  demanding  to  be  cata- 
logued and  named,  and  which  they  only  make  truly  their 
own  in  the  measure  and  to  the  extent  that  they  do  name  it, 
with  infinite  shades  and  varieties  of  thought  and  feeling 
subsisting  in  their  own  minds,  and  claiming  to  find  utter- 

168 


ON    THE    DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

ice  in  words,  it  is  a  wanton  extravagance  to  expend  two  or 
ore  signs  on  that  which  could  adequately  be  set  forth  by 
jne — an  extravagance  in  one  part  of  their  expenditure, 
which  will  be  almost  sure  to  issue  in,  and  to  be  punished  by, 
a  corresponding  scantness  and  straitness  in  another.  Some 
thought  or  feeling  or  fact  will  wholly  want  one  adequate 
3ign,  because  another  has  two.^®^  Hereupon  that  which  has 
been  well  called  the  process  of  '  desynonymizing '  begins — 
that  is,  of  gradually  discrimination  in  use  between  words 
which  have  hitherto  been  accounted  perfectly  equivalent, 
and,  as  such,  indifferently  employed.  It  is  a  positive  en- 
riching of  a  language  when  this  process  is  at  any  point  felt 
to  be  accomplished;  when  two  or  more  words,  once  promis- 
cuously used,  have  had  each  its  own  peculiar  domain  assigned 
to  it,  which  it  shall  not  itself  overstep,  upon  which  others 
shall  not  encroach.  This  may  seem  at  first  sight  only  as 
a  better  regulation  of  old  territory;  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses it  is  the  acquisition  of  new. 

This  desynonymizing  process  is  not  carried  out  accord- 
ing to  any  prearranged  purpose  or  plan.  The  working 
genius  of  the  language  accomplishes  its  own  objects,  causes 
these  synonymous  words  insensibly  to  fall  off  from  one  an- 
other, and  to  acquire  separate  and  peculiar  meanings.  The 
most  that  any  single  writer  can  do,  save  indeed  in  the  termi- 
nology of  science,  is  to  assist  an  already  existing  inclination, 
to  bring  to  the  clear  consciousness  of  all  that  which  already 
has  been  obscurely  felt  by  many,  and  thus  to  hasten  the 
process  of  this  disengagement,  or,  as  it  has  been  well 
expressed,  '  to  regulate  and  ordinate  the  evident  nisus  and 
tendency  of  the  popular  usage  into  a  severe  definition  ' ; 
and  establish  on  a  firm  basis  the  distinction,  so  that  it  shall 
not  be  lost  sight  of  or  brought  into  question  again.  Thus 
long  before  Wordsworth  wrote,  it  was  obscurely  felt  by 
many  that  in  *  imagination  '  there  was  more  of  the  earnest, 

169 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

in  '  fancy  '  of  tlic  play^  of  the  spirit,  that  the  first  was  a 
loftier  faculty  and  power  than  the  second.  The  tendency 
of  the  language  was  all  in  this  direction.  None  would  for 
some  time  back  have  employed  '  fancy  '  as  Milton  employs 
it,^®*  ascribing  to  it  operations  which  we  have  learned  to 
reserve  for  '  imagination  '  alone,  and  indeed  subordinating 

*  imaginations  '  to  fancy,  as  a  part  of  the  materials  with 
which  it  deals.  Yet  for  all  this  the  words  were  continually, 
and  not  without  injury,  confounded.  Wordsworth  first,  in 
the  Preface  to  his  Lyrical  Ballads,  rendered  it  impossible 
for  any,  who  had  read  and  mastered  what  he  had  written 
on  the  matter,  to  remain  unconscious  any  longer  of  the 
essential  difference  between  them.^^^  This  is  but  one  ex- 
ample, an  illustrious  one  indeed,  of  what  has  been  going 
forward  in  innumerable  pairs  of  words.  Thus  in  Wiclif's 
time  and  long  after,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  difference 
recognized  between  a  *  famine  '  and  a  '  hunger  ' ;  they  both 
expressed  the  outward  fact  of  a  scarcity  of  food.  It  was 
a  genuine  gain  when,  leaving  to  '  famine  '  this  meaning, 
by  '  hunger  '  was  expressed  no  longer  the  outward  fact, 
but  the  inward  sense  of  the  fact.  Other  pairs  of  words 
between  which  a  distinction  is  recognized  now  which  was 
not  recognized  some  centuries  ago,  are  the  following :  '  to 
clarify  '  and  '  to  glorify  ' ;  '  to  admire  '  and  *  to  wonder  ' ; 

*  to  convince  '  and  *  to  convict ' ;  '  reign  '  and  '  kingdom  ' ; 
'  ghost '  and  '  spirit ' ;  '  merit '  and  '  demerit ' ;  *  mutton  '  and 

*  sheep  ' ;     *  feminine  '     and     *  effeminate  ' ;     '  mortal '     and 

*  deadly  ' ;    '  ingenious  '    and    *  ingenuous  ' ;    '  needful '    and 

*  needy  ';  '  voluntary  '  and  'wilful. '^^^ 

A  multitude  of  words  in  English  are  still  waiting  for  a 
similar  discrimination.  Many  in  due  time  will  obtain  it, 
and  the  language  prove  so  much  the  richer  thereby;  for 
certainly  if  Coleridge  had  right  when  he  affirmed  that  *  every 
new  term  expressing  a   fact  or  a  difference  not  precisely 

170 


ON    THE    DISTINCTION    OF    WORDS 

or  adequately  expressed  by  any  other  word  in  the  same  lan- 
guage^ is  a  new  organ  of  thought  for  the  mind  that  has 
learned  it/^^^  we  are  justified  in  regarding  these  distinctions 
which  are  still  waiting  to  be  made  as  so  much  reversionary 
wealth  in  our  mother  tongue.  Thus  how  real  an  ethical 
gain  would  it  be,  how  much  clearness  would  it  bring  into 
men's  thoughts  and  actions,  if  the  distinction  which  exists 
in  Latin  between  *  vindicta  '  and  '  ultio,'  that  the  first  is  a 
moral  act,  the  just  punishment  of  the  sinner  by  his  God,  of 
the  criminal  by  the  judge,  the  other  an  act  in  which  the  self- 
gratification  of  one  who  counts  himself  injured  or  offended 
is  sought,  could  in  like  manner  be  fully  established  (vaguely 
felt  it  already  is)  between  our  *  vengeance  '  and  *  revenge  '; 
so  that  '  vengeance '  (with  the  verb  *  to  avenge ')  should 
never  be  ascribed  except  to  God,  or  to  men  acting  as  the 
executors  of  his  righteous  doom;  while  all  retaliation  to 
which  not  zeal  for  his  righteousness,  but  men's  own  sinful 
passions  have  given  the  impulse  and  the  motive,  should  be 
termed  *  revenge.'  As  it  now  is,  the  moral  disapprobation 
which  cleaves,  and  cleaves  justly,  to  *  revenge,'  is  oftentimes 
transferred  almost  unconsciously  to  *  vengeance  ' ;  while  yet 
without  vengeance  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  in  a  world 
so  full  of  evil-doing  any  effectual  assertion  of  righteousness, 
any  moral  government  whatever. 

The  causes  mentioned  above,  namely,  that  our  modern 
English,  Teutonic  in  its  main  structure,  yet  draws  so  large 
a  portion  of  its  verbal  wealth  from  the  Latin,  and  has  fur- 
ther welcomed,  and  found  place  for,  many  later  accessions, 
these  causes  have  together  effected  that  we  possess  a  great 
many  duplicates,  not  to  speak  of  triplicates,  or  of  such  a 
quintuplicate  as  that  which  I  adduced  just  now,  where  the 
Greek,  Latin,  French,  Dutch,  and  English  had  each  yielded 
us  a  word.  Let  me  mention  a  few  duplicate  substantives, 
Old-English  and  Latin :  thus  we  have  *  shepherd  '  and  *  pas- 

171 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

tor  ' ;  *  feeling  '  and  '  sentiment ' ;  '  handbook  '  and  '  man- 
ual ' ;  '  ship  '  and  *  nave  ' ;  '  anger  '  and  '  ire  ' ;  *  grief  '  and 
'  sorrow  ' ;  '  kingdom/  '  reign/  and  '  realm  ' ;  '  love  '  and 
'  charity  ' ;  *  feather  '  and  '  plume  ' ;  '  forerunner  '  and  *  pre- 
cursor ' ;    '  foresight '    and    '  providence  ' ;    '  freedom  '    and 

*  liberty  ' ;  *  bitterness  '  and  *  acerbity  ' ;  *  murder  '  and 
'  homicide  ' ;  '  moons  '  and  '  lunes.'  Sometimes,  in  theology 
and  science  especially,  we  have  gone  both  to  the  Latin  and 
to  the  Greek,  and  drawn  the  same  word  from  them  both ;  thus 
'  deist '  and  *  theist ' ;  *  numeration  '  and  *  arithmetic  ' ; 
'  revelation  '  and  '  apocalypse  ' ;  *  temporal '  and  '  chronic  ' ; 

*  compassion  *  and  *  sympathy  ' ;  '  supposition  '  and  '  hypoth- 
esis ' ;  '  transparent '  and  '  diaphanous  ' ;  *  digit '  and  '  dac- 
tyle.'  But  to  return  to  the  Old-English  and  Latin  (with 
French),  the  main  factors  of  our  tongue.  Besides  duplicate 
substantives,  we  have  duplicate  verbs,  such  as  *  to  whiten  ' 
and  '  to  blanch  ' ;  '  to  soften  '  and  *  to  mollify  ' ;  *  to  unload  ' 
and  '  to  exonerate  ' ;  '  to  hide  '  and  '  to  conceal ' ;  with  many 
more.  Duplicate  adj  ectives  also  are  numerous,  as  '  shady  * 
and  '  umbrageous  ' ;  '  unreadable  '  and  '  illegible  ' ;  *  un- 
friendly '  and  '  inimical ' ;  *  almighty  '  and  '  onmipotent ' ; 
'  wholesome  '  and  *  salubrious  ' ;  *  unshunnable  '  and  *  inevita- 
ble.' Occasionally  our  modern  English,  not  adopting  the 
Latin  substantive,  has  admitted  duplicate  adjectives;  thus 

*  burden  *  has  not  merely  '  burdensome,'  but  also  *  onerous,' 
while  yet  *  onus  '  has  found  no  place  with  us ;  *  priest '  has 

*  priestly  '  and  '  sacerdotal ' ;  *  king  '  has  '  kingly  '  '  regal,' 
which  is  purely  Latin,  and  '  royal,'  which  is  Latin  distilled 
through  the  French.  *  Bodily  '  and  '  corporal,'  *  boyish  ' 
and  *  puerile,'  *  fiery  '  and  *  igneous,'  *  wooden  '  and  *  ligne- 
ous,' '  worldly  '  and  *  mundane,'  '  bloody  '  and  '  sanguine,' 
'  watery  '  and  '  aqueous,'  '  fearful '  and  *  timid,'  *  manly  ' 
and  *  virile/  '  womanly  '  and  *  feminine,'  *  sunny  '  and 
'  solar,'    *  starry  '    and    *  stellar,'    '  yearly  '    and    *  annual,' 

172 


ON    THE    DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

'  weighty  '  and  '  ponderous/  may  all  be  placed  in  the  same 
list.  Nor  are  these  more  than  a  handful  of  words  out  of  the 
number  which  might  be  adduced.  You  would  find  both 
pleasure  and  profit  in  enlarging  these  lists,  and,  as  far  as 
you  are  able,  making  them  gradually  complete. 

If  we  look  closely  at  words  which  have  succeeded  in 
thus  maintaining  their  ground  side  by  side,  and  one  no  less 
than  the  other,  we  shall  note  that  in  almost  every  instance 
they  have  little  by  little  asserted  for  themselves  separate 
spheres  of  meaning,  have  in  usage  become  more  or  less 
distinct.  Thus  we  use  '  shepherd '  almost  always  in  its 
primary  meaning,  keeper  of  sheep ;  while  *  pastor  '  is  used 
exclusively  in  the  tropical  sense,  one  that  feeds  the  flock 
of  God;  at  the  same  time  the  language  having  only  the  one 
adjective,  *  pastoral,'  that  is  of  necessity  common  to  both. 
'  Love  '  and  '  charity  '  are  used  in  our  Authorized  Version 
of  Scripture  promiscuously,  and  out  of  the  sense  of  their 
equivalence  are  made  to  represent  one  and  the  same  Greek 
word ;  but  in  modern  use  '  charity  '  has  come  predominantly 
to  signify  one  particular  manifestation  of  love,  the  ministry 
to  the  bodily  needs  of  others,  '  love '  continuing  to  express 
the  affection  of  the  soul.  '  Ship  '  remains  in  its  literal 
meaning,  while  *  nave  '  has  become  a  symbolic  term  used 
in  sacred  architecture  alone.  '  Kingdom  '  is  concrete,  as  the 
'  kingdom '  of  Great  Britain ;  '  reign '  is  abstract,  the 
*  reign  '  of  Queen  Victoria.  An  *  auditor  '  and  a  '  hearer  ' 
are  now,  though  they  were  not  once,  altogether  different 
from  one  another.  *  Illegible '  is  applied  to  the  hand- 
writing, *  unreadable  '  to  the  subject-matter  written;  a  man 
writes  an  '  illegible  '  hand ;  he  has  published  an  '  unread- 
able '  book.  '  Foresight '  is  ascribed  to  men,  but  '  provi- 
dence '  for  the  most  part  designates,  as  Trpovoua  also  came 
to  do,  the  far-looking  wisdom  of  God,  by  which  He  governs 
and  graciously  cares  for  his  people.     It  becomes  boys  to 

173 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

be  '  boyish/  but  not  men  to  be  '  puerile.'  *  To  blanch  '  is 
to  withdraw  colouring  matter :  we  *  blanch  '  almonds  or 
linen;  or   the   cheek  by  the   withdrawing  of  the  blood  is 

*  blanched  '  with  fear ;  but  we  '  whiten  '  a  wall,  not  by  with- 
drawing some  other  colour,  but  by  the  superinducing  of 
white;  thus  '  whited  sepulchres.'  When  we  'palliate'  our 
own  or  other  people's  faults,  we  do  not  seek  *  to  cloke  ' 
them  altogether,  but  only  to  extenuate  the  guilt  of  them  in 
part. 

It  might  be  urged  that  there  was  a  certain  preparedness 
in  these  words  to  separate  off  in  their  meaning  from  one 
another,  inasmuch  as  they  originally  belonged  to  different 
stocks;  and  this  may  very  well  have  assisted;  but  we  find 
the  same  process  at  work  where  original  difference  of  stock 
can  have  supplied  no  such  assistance.      *  Astronomy  '  and 

*  astrology  '  are  both  words  drawn  from  the  Greek,  nor  is 
there  any  reason  beforehand  why  the  second  should  not  be 
in  as  honourable  use  as  the  first;  for  it  is  the  reason,  as 
'  astronomy  '  the  law,  of  the  stars. ^®®  But  seeing  there  is  a 
true  and  a  false  science  of  the  stars,  both  needing  words 
to  utter  them,  it  has  come  to  pass  that  in  our  later  use, 
'  astrology  '  designates  always  that  pretended  science  of 
imposture,  which  affecting  to  submit  the  moral  freedom  of 
men  to  the  influences  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  prognosticates 
future  events  from  the  position  of  these,  as  contrasted  with 
'  astronomy,'  that  true  science  which  investigates  the  laws  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  in  their  relations  to  one  another  and 
to  the  planet  upon  which  we  dwell. 

As  these  are  both  from  the  Greek,  so  *  despair  '  and  '  diffi- 
dence '  are  both,  though  the  second  more  directly  than  the 
first,  from  the  Latin.  At  a  period  not  very  long  past  the 
difference  between  them  was  hardly  appreciable;  one  was 
hardly  stronger  than  the  other.  If  in  one  the  absence  of 
all  hope,  in  the  other  that  of  all  faith,  was  implied.     In 

174. 


ON    THE    DISTINCTION    OF    WORDS 

The  Pilgrim's  Progress,  a  book  with  which  every  English 
schoolmaster  should  be  familiar,  '  Mistress  Diffidence  '  is 
'  Giant  Despair's  '  wife,  and  not  a  whit  behind  him  in  deadly 
enmity  to  the  pilgrims;  even  as  Jeremy  Taylor  speaks  of 
the  impenitent  sinner's  '  diffidence  in  the  hour  of  death,' 
meaning,  as  the  context  plainly  shows,  his  despair.  But  to 
what  end  two  words  for  one  and  the  same  thing  ?  And  thus 
'  diffidence  '  did  not  retain  that  energy  of  meaning  which 
it  had  at  the  first,  but  little  by  little  assumed  a  more  miti- 
gated sense,  (Hobbes  speaks  of  *  men's  diffidence,'  meaning 
their  distrust  '  of  one  another,')  till  it  has  come  now  to 
signifiy  a  becoming  distrust  of  ourselves,  a  humble  estimate 
of  our  own  powers,  with  only  a  slight  intimation,  as  in  the 
later  use  of  the  Latin  '  verecundia,'  that  perhaps  this  dis- 
trust is  carried  too  far. 

Again,  '  interference  '  and  *  interposition  '  are  both  from 
the  Latin;  and  here  too  there  is  no  anterior  necessity  that 
they  should  possess  those  different  shades  of  meaning  which 
actually  they  have  obtained  among  us; — ^the  Latin  verbs 
which  form  their  latter  halves  being  about  as  strong  one 
as  the  other.  And  yet  in  our  practical  use,  *  interference ' 
is  something  offensive;  it  is  the  pushing  in  of  himself  be- 
tween two  parties  on  the  part  of  a  third,  who  was  not  asked, 
and  is  not  thanked  for  his  pains,  and  who,  as  the  feeling 
of  the  word  implies,  had  no  business  there ;  while  '  inter- 
position '  is  employed  to  express  the  friendly  peace-making 
mediation  of  one  whom  the  act  well  became,  and  who,  even 
if  he  was  not  specially  invited  thereunto,  is  still  thanked  for 
what  he  has  done.  How  real  an  increase  is  it  in  the  wealth 
and  efficiency  of  a  language  thus  to  have  discriminated  such 
words  as  these;  and  to  be  able  to  express  acts  outwardly 
the  same  by  different  words,  according  as  we  would  praise 
or  blame  the  temper  and  spirit  out  of  which  they  sprung.^®^ 

Take  now  some  words  not  thus  desynonymized  by  usage 
175 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

only,  but  having  a  fundamental  etymological  distinction, — 
one,  however,  which  it  would  be  easy  to  overlook,  and  which, 
so  long  as  we  dwell  on  the  surface  of  the  word,  we  shall 
overlook ;  and  try  whether  we  shall  not  be  gainers  by  bring- 
ing out  the  distinction  into  clear  consciousness.  Here  are 
*  arrogant,'  *  presumptuous,'  and  *  insolent ' ;  we  often  use 
them  promiscuously;  yet  let  us  examine  them  a  little  more 
closely,  and  ask  ourselves,  as  soon  as  we  have  traced  the 
lines  of  demarcation  between  them,  whether  we  are  not 
now  in  possession  of  three  distinct  thoughts,  instead  of  a 
single  confused  one.  He  is  *  arrogant,'  who  claims  the 
observance  and  homage  of  others  as  his  due  (ad  rogo)  ; 
who  does  not  wait  for  them  to  offer,  but  himself  demands 
all  this ;  or  who,  having  right  to  one  sort  of  observance, 
claims  another  to  which  he  has  no  right.  Thus,  it  was 
'  arrogance  '  in  Nebuchadnezzar,  when  he  required  that  all 
men  should  fall  down  before  the  image  which  he  had  reared. 
He,  a  man,  was  claiming  for  man's  work  the  homage  which 
belonged  only  to  God.  But  one  is  *  presumptuous  '  who 
takes  things  to  himself  before  he  has  acquired  any  title  to 
them  (prae  sumo) ;  as  the  young  man  who  already  usurps 
the  place  of  the  old,  the  learner  who  speaks  with  the  author- 
ity of  the  teacher.  By  and  by  all  this  may  very  justly  be 
his,  but  it  is  *  presumption  '  to  anticipate  it  now.  '  Insolent ' 
means  properly  no  more  than  unusual ;  to  act  '  insolently  '  is 
to  act  unusually.  The  offensive  meaning  which  *  insolent ' 
has  acquired  rests  upon  the  sense  that  there  is  a  certain 
well-imderstood  rule  of  society,  a  recognized  standard  of 
moral  and  social  behaviour,  to  which  each  of  its  members 
should  conform.  The  '  insolent '  man  is  one  who  violates 
this  rule,  who  breaks  through  this  order,  acting  in  an 
unaccustomed  manner.  The  same  sense  of  the  orderly  being 
also  the  moral,  is  implied  in  '  irregular  ' ;  a  man  of  *  irreg- 
ular '  is  for  us  a  man  of  immoral  life ;  and  yet  more  strongly 

176 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

in  Latin,  which  has  but  one  word  (mores)  for  customs  and 
morals. 

Or  consider  the  following  words :  '  to  hate/  *  to  loathe/ 
*  to  detest/  '  to  abhor.'  It  would  be  safe  to  say  that  our 
blessed  Lord  '  hated  '  to  see  his  Father's  house  profaned, 
when,  the  zeal  of  that  house  consuming  Him,  He  drove  forth 
in  anger  the  profaners  from  it  (John  2:15)  ;  He  '  loathed  ' 
the  lukewarmness  of  the  Laodiceans,  when  He  threatened 
to  spue  them  out  of  his  mouth  (Rev.  3:l6)  ;  He  '  detested ' 
the  hypocrisy  of  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes,  when  He 
affirmed  and  proclaimed  their  sin,  and  uttered  those  eight 
woes  against  them  (Matt.  23) ;  He  '  abhorred '  the  evil 
suggestions  of  Satan,  and  He  bade  the  Tempter  to  get  be- 
hind Him,  shrinking  from  him  as  one  would  shrink  from  a 
hissing  serpent  in  his  path. 

Sometimes  words  have  no  right  at  all  to  be  considered 
synonyms,  and  yet  are  continually  used  one  for  the  other; 
having  through  this  constant  misemployment  more  need  than 
synonyms  themselves  to  be  discriminated.  Thus,  what  con- 
fusion is  often  made  between  *  genuine  '  and  *  authentic  ' ; 
what  inaccuracy  exists  in  their  employment.  And  yet  the 
distinction  is  a  very  plain  one.  A  *  genuine  *  work  is  one 
written  by  the  author  whose  name  it  bears ;  an  *  authentic  * 
work  is  one  which  relates  truthfully  the  matters  of  which 
it  treats.  For  example,  the  apocryphal  Gospel  of  St.  Thomas 
is  neither  *  genuine  '  nor  *  authentic'  It  is  not  *  genuine/ 
for  St.  Thomas  did  not  write  it;  it  is  not  *  authentic/  for 
its  contents  are  mainly  fables  and  lies.  The  History  of  the 
Alexandrian  War,  which  passes  under  Caesar's  name,  is  not 
'  genuine,'  for  he  did  not  write  it ;  it  is  *  authentic,'  being  in 
the  main  a  truthful  record  of  the  events  which  it  professes 
to  relate.  Thiers'  History  of  the  French  Empire,  on  the 
contrary,  is  *  genuine,'  for  he  is  certainly  the  author,  but 
very  far  indeed  from  '  authentic  ' ;  while  Thucydides'  His- 

177 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

tory   of  the  Peloponnesian    War  is  both   '  authentic  '   and 
*  genuine.' 

You  will  observe  that  in  most  of  the  words  just  adduced, 
I  have  sought  to  refer  their  usage  to  their  etymologies,  to 
follow  the  guidance  of  these,  and  by  the  same  aid  to  trace 
the  lines  of  demarcation  which  divide  them.  For  I  cannot 
but  think  it  an  omission  in  a  very  instructive  little  volume 
upon  synonyms  edited  by  the  late  Archbishop  Whately,  and 
a  partial  diminution  of  its  usefulness,  that  in  the  valuation 
of  words  reference  is  so  seldom  made  to  their  etymologies, 
the  writer  relying  almost  entirely  on  present  usage  and 
the  tact  and  instinct  of  a  cultivated  mind  for  the  appreci- 
ation of  them  aright.  The  accomplished  author  (or  author- 
ess) of  this  book  indeed  justifies  this  omission  on  the  ground 
that  a  work  on  synonyms  has  to  do  with  the  present  relative 
value  of  words,  not  with  their  roots  and  derivations;  and, 
further,  that  a  reference  to  these  often  brings  in  what  is  only 
a  disturbing  force  in  the  process,  tending  to  confuse  rather 
than  to  clear.  But  while  it  is  quite  true  that  words  will 
often  ride  very  slackly  at  anchor  on  their  etymologies,  will 
be  borne  hither  and  thither  by  the  shifting  tides  and  currents 
of  usage,  yet  are  they  for  the  most  part  still  holden  by  them. 
Very  few  have  broken  away  and  drifted  from  their  moor- 
ings altogether.  A  *  novelist,'  or  writer  of  new  tales  in  the 
present  day,  is  very  different  from  a  *  novelist '  or  upholder 
of  new  theories  in  politics  and  religion,  of  two  hundred  years 
ago;  yet  the  idea  of  newness  is  common  to  them  both.  A 
'  naturalist '  was  once  a  denier  of  revealed  truth,  of  any 
but  natural  religion;  he  is  now  an  investigator,  often  a 
devout  one,  of  nature  and  of  her  laws;  yet  the  word  has 
remained  true  to  its  etymology  all  the  while.  A  '  methodist ' 
was  formerly  a  follower  of  a  certain  *  method  '  of  philosoph- 
ical induction,  now  of  a  '  method '  in  the  fulfilment  of 
religious  duties ;  but  in  either  case  *  method,'  or  orderly  pro- 

178 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

gression,  is  the  central  idea  of  the  word.  Take  other  words 
which  have  changed  or  modified  their  meaning — '  planta- 
tions,' for  instance,  which  were  once  colonies  of  men  (and 
indeed  we  still  *  plant '  a  colony),  but  are  now  nurseries  of 
trees,  and  you  will  find  the  same  to  hold  good.  '  Ecstasy  ' 
was  madness ;  it  is  intense  delight ;  but  has  in  nowise  thereby 
broken  with  the  meaning  from  which  it  started,  since  it  is 
the  nature  alike  of  madness  and  of  joy  to  set  men  out  of 
and  beside  themselves. 

And  even  when  the  fact  is  not  so  obvious  as  iij  these  cases, 
the  etymology  of  a  word  exercises  an  unconscious  influence 
upon  its  uses,  oftentimes  makes  itself  felt  when  least 
expected,  so  that  a  word,  after  seeming  quite  to  have  for- 
gotten, will  after  longest  wanderings  return  to  it  again. 
And  one  main  device  of  great  artists  in  language,  such  as 
would  fain  evoke  the  latent  forces  of  their  native  tongue, 
will  very  often  consist  in  reconnecting  words  by  their  use 
of  them  with  their  original  derivation,  in  not  suffering 
them  to  forget  themselves  and  their  origin,  though  they 
would.  How  often  and  with  what  signal  effect  does  Milton 
compel  a  word  to  return  to  its  original  source,  *  antiquam 
exquirere  matrem ' ;  while  yet  how  often  the  fact  that  he  is 
doing  this  passes  even  by  scholars  unobserved.^^^  Moreover, 
even  if  all  this  were  not  so,  yet  the  past  history  of  a  word, 
a  history  that  must  needs  start  from  its  derivation,  how  soon 
soever  this  may  be  left  behind,  can  hardly  be  disregarded, 
when  we  are  seeking  to  ascertain  its  present  value.  What 
Barrow  says  is  quite  true,  that  '  knowing  the  primitive  mean- 
ing of  words  can  seldom  or  never  determine  their  meaning 
anywhere,  they  often  in  common  use  declining  from  it ' ; 
but  though  it  cannot  *  determine,'  it  can  as  little  be  omitted 
or  forgotten,  when  this  determination  is  being  sought.  A 
man  may  be  wholly  different  now  from  what  once  he  was; 
yet  not  the  less  to  know  his  antecedents  is  needful,  before 

179 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

we  can  ever  perfectly  understand  his  present  self;  and  the 
same  holds  good  with  words. 

There  is  a  moral  gain  which  synonyms  will  sometimes 
yield  us,  enabling  us,  as  they  do,  to  say  exactly  what  we 
intend,  without  exaggerating  or  putting  more  into  our  speech 
than  we  feel  in  our  hearts,  allowing  us  to  be  at  once  courteous 
and  truthful.  Such  moral  advantage  there  is,  for  example, 
in  the  choice  which  we  have  between  the  words  '  to  felici- 
tate '  and  *  to  congratulate,'  for  the  expressing  of  our  senti- 
ments and  wishes  in  regard  of  the  good  fortune  that  may 
happen  to  others.  To  '  felicitate  '  another  is  to  wish  him 
happiness,  without  aflBrming  that  his  happiness  is  also  ours. 
Thus,  out  of  that  general  goodwill  with  which  we  ought  to 
regard  all,  we  might  '  felicitate  '  one  almost  a  stranger  to 
us ;  nay,  more,  I  can  honestly  *  felicitate  '  one  on  his  appoint- 
ment to  a  post,  or  attainment  of  an  honour,  even  though 
I  may  not  consider  him  the  fittest  to  have  obtained  it,  though 
I  should  have  been  glad  if  another  had  done  so ;  I  can  desire 
and  hope,  that  is,  that  it  may  bring  all  joy  and  happiness 
to  him.  But  I  could  not,  without  a  violation  of  truth,  *  con- 
gratulate '  him,  or  that  stranger  whose  prosperity  awoke  no 
lively  delight  in  my  heart ;  for  when  I  *  congratulate  '  a  per- 
son (congratulator),  I  declare  that  I  am  sharer  in  his  joy, 
that  what  has  rejoiced  him  has  rejoiced  also  me.  We  have 
all,  I  dare  say,  felt,  even  without  having  analysed  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  words,  that  '  congratulate '  is  a  far 
heartier  word  than  *  felicitate,'  and  one  with  which  it  much 
better  becomes  us  to  welcome  the  good  fortune  of  a  friend; 
and  the  analysis,  as  you  perceive,  perfectly  j  ustifies  the  feel- 
ing. *  Felicitations  *  are  little  better  than  compliments ; 
*  congratulations  '  are  the  expression  of  a  genuine  sympathy 
and  joy. 

Let  me  illustrate  the  importance  of  synonymous  distinc- 
tions by  another  example,  by  the  words,  '  to  invent '  and  '  to 

180 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

discover  ';  or  '  invention  '  and  '  discovery.'  How  slight  may 
seem  to  us  the  distinction  between  them,  even  if  we  see  any 
at  all.  Yet  try  them  a  little  closer,  try  them,  which  is  the 
true  proof,  by  aid  of  examples,  and  you  will  perceive  that 
they  can  by  no  means  be  indifferently  used;  that,  on  the 
contrary,  a  great  truth  lies  at  the  root  of  their  distinction. 
Thus  we  speak  of  the  '  invention  '  of  printing,  of  the  '  dis- 
covery '  of  America.  Shift  these  words,  and  speak,  for 
instance,  of  the  '  invention  '  of  America ;  you  feel  at  once 
how  unsuitable  the  language  is.  And  why  ?  Because  Colum- 
bus did  not  make  that  to  be,  which  before  him  had  not  been. 
America  was  there,  before  he  revealed  it  to  European  eyes ; 
but  that  which  before  was,  he  showed  to  be;  he  withdrew 
the  veil  which  hitherto  had  concealed  it ;  he  *  discovered ' 
it.  So  too  we  speak  of  Newton  '  discovering  '  the  law  of 
gravitation ;  he  drew  aside  the  veil  whereby  men's  eyes  were 
hindered  from  perceiving  it,  but  the  law  had  existed  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  would  have  existed  whether 
he  or  any  other  man  had  traced  it  or  no;  neither  was  it  in 
any  way  affected  by  the  discovery  of  it  which  he  had  made. 
But  Gutenberg,  or  whoever  else  it  may  be  to  whom  the 
honour  belongs,  '  invented  '  printing ;  he  made  something  to 
be,  which  hitherto  was  not.  In  like  manner  Harvey  '  dis- 
covered '  the  circulation  of  the  blood ;  but  Watt  *  invented ' 
the  steam-engine;  and  we  speak,  with  a  true  distinction, 
of  the  '  inventions  '  of  Art,  the  *  discoveries  '  of  Science.  In 
the  very  highest  matters  of  all,  it  is  deeply  important  that 
we  be  aware  of  and  observe  the  distinction.  In  religion 
there  have  been  many  '  discoveries,'  but  (in  true  religion  I 
mean)  no  '  inventions.'  Many  discoveries — ^but  God  in  each 
case  the  discoverer;  He  draws  aside  the  veils,  one  veil  after 
another,  that  have  hiddem  Him  from  men;  the  discovery  or 
revelation  is  from  Himself,  for  no  man  by  searching  has 
found   out  God;  and  therefore,  wherever  anything  offers 

181 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

itself  as  an  '  invention  '  in  matters  of  religion^  it  proclaims 
itself  a  lie, — as  are  all  self-devised  worships,  all  religions 
which  man  projects  from  his  own  heart.  Just  that  is  known 
of  God  which  He  is  pleased  to  make  known,  and  no  more; 
and  men's  recognizing  or  refusing  to  recognize  in  no  way 
affects  it.  They  may  deny  or  may  acknowledge  Him,  but 
He  continues  the  same. 

As  involving  in  like  manner  a  distinction  which  cannot 
safely  be  lost  sight  of,  how  important  the  difference,  the 
existence  of  which  is  asserted  by  our  possession  of  the  two 
words,  '  to  apprehend  '  and  '  to  comprehend,'  with  their  sub- 
stantives '  apprehension  '  and  '  comprehension.'  For  indeed 
we  *  apprehend  '  many  truths,  which  we  do  not  *  compre- 
hend.' The  great  mysteries  of  our  faith — the  doctrine,  for 
instance,  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  we  lay  hold  upon  it,  we  hang 
on  it,  our  souls  live  by  it ;  but  we  do  not  *  comprehend  '  it, 
that  is,  we  do  not  take  it  all  in;  for  it  is  a  necessary  attri- 
bute of  God  that  He  is  incomprehensible;  if  He  were  not 
so,  either  He  would  not  be  God,  or  the  Being  that  compre- 
hended Him  would  be  God  also  (Matt.  11:27).  But  it 
also  belongs  to  the  idea  of  God  that  He  may  be  '  appre- 
hended,' though  not  '  comprehended,'  by  his  reasonable 
creatures ;  He  has  made  them  to  know  Him,  though  not  to 
know  Him  all,  to  '  apprehend,'  though  not  to  '  comprehend  ' 
Him.  We  may  transfer  with  profit  the  same  distinction  to 
matters  not  quite  so  solemn.  Thus  I  read  Goldsmith's 
Traveller,  or  one  of  Gay's  Fables,  and  I  feel  that  I  *  com- 
prehend '  it ; — I  do  not  believe,  that  is,  that  there  was  any- 
thing stirring  in  the  poet's  mind  or  intention,  which  I  have 
not  in  the  reading  reproduced  in  my  own.  But  I  read 
Hamlet,  or  King  Lear;  here  I  *  apprehend  '  much ;  I  have 
wondrous  glimpses  of  the  poet's  intention  and  aim;  but  I 
do  not  for  an  instant  suppose  that  I  have  '  comprehended,' 
taken  in,  that  is_,  all  that  was  in  his  mind  in  the  writing; 

182 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

or  that  his  purpose  does  not  stretch  in  manifold  directions 
far  beyond  the  range  of  my  vision;  and  I  am  sure  there 
are  few  who  would  not  shrink  from  affirming,  at  least  if 
they  at  all  realized  the  force  of  the  words  they  were  using, 
that  they  '  comprehended  '  Shakespeare ;  however  much  they 
may  *  apprehend  '  in  him. 

How  often  *  opposite  *  and  '  contrary  '  are  used  as  if  there 
was  no  difference  between  them,  and  yet  there  is  a  most 
essential  one,  one  which  perhaps  we  may  best  express  by 
saying  that  '  opposites  '  complete,  while  *  contraries  '  exclude 
one  another.  Thus  the  most  *  opposite  '  moral  or  mental 
characteristics  may  meet  in  one  and  the  same  person,  while 
to  say  that  the  most  *  contrary  '  did  so,  would  be  manifestly 
absurd ;  for  example,  a  soldier  may  be  at  once  prudent  and 
bold,  for  these  are  opposites ;  he  could  not  be  at  once  prudent 
and  rash,  for  these  are  contraries.  We  may  love  and  fear  at 
the  same  time  and  the  same  person;  we  pray  in  the  Litany 
that  we  may  love  and  dread  God,  the  two  being  opposites, 
and  thus  the  complements  of  one  another;  but  to  pray  that 
we  might  love  and  hate  would  be  as  illogical  as  it  would  be 
impious,  for  these  are  contraries,  and  could  no  more  co-exist 
together  than  white  and  black,  hot  and  cold,  in  the  same  sub- 
j  ect  at  the  same  time.  Or  to  take  another  illustration,  sweet 
and  sour  are  '  opposites,'  sweet  and  bitter  are  '  contraries. '^®^ 
It  will  be  seen  then  that  there  is  always  a  certain  relation 
between  *  opposites  ' ;  they  unfold  themselves,  though  in 
different  directions,  from  the  same  root,  as  the  positive  and 
negative  forces  of  electricity,  and  in  their  very  opposition 
uphold  and  sustain  one  another ;  while  *  contraries  '  en- 
counter one  another  from  quarters  quite  diverse,  and  one 
only  subsists  in  the  exact  degree  that  it  puts  out  of  working 
the  other.  Surely  this  distinction  cannot  be  an  unimportant 
one  either  in  the  region  of  ethics  or  elsewhere. 

It  will  happen  continually,  that  rightly  to  distinguish 
183 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

between  two  words  will  throw  a  flood  of  light  upon  some 
controversy  in  which  they  play  a  principal  part,  nay,  may 
virtually  put  an  end  to  that  controversy  altogether.  Thus 
when  Hobbes,  with  a  true  instinct,  would  have  laid  deep 
the  foundations  of  atheism  and  despotism  together,  resolv- 
ing all  right  into  might,  and  not  merely  robbing  men,  if 
he  could,  of  the  power,  but  denying  to  them  the  duty,  of 
obeying  God  rather  than  man,  his  sophisms  could  stand  only 
so  long  as  it  was  not  perceived  that  '  compulsion  '  and  *  obli- 
gation,' with  which  he  j  uggled,  conveyed  two  ideas  perfectly 
distinct,  indeed  disparate,  in  kind.  Those  sophisms  of  his 
collapsed  at  once,  so  soon  as  it  was  perceived  that  what 
pertained  to  one  had  been  transferred  to  the  other  by  a 
mere  confusion  of  terms  and  cunning  sleight  of  hand,  the 
former  being  a  physical,  the  latter  a  moral,  necessity. 

There  is  indeed  no  such  fruitful  source  of  confusion  and 
mischief  as  this — two  words  are  tacitly  assumed  as  equiva- 
lent, and  therefore  exchangeable,  and  then  that  which  may 
be  assumed,  and  with  truth,  of  one,  is  assumed  also  of  the 
other,  of  which  it  is  not  true.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  often 
is  with  '  instruction  '  and  '  education.'  Cannot  we  '  instruct ' 
a  child,  it  is  asked,  cannot  we  teach  it  geography,  or  arith- 
metic, or  grammar,  quite  independently  of  the  Catechism, 
or  even  of  the  Scriptures  }  No  doubt  you  may ;  but  can  you 
'  educate,'  without  bringing  moral  and  spiritual  forces  to 
bear  upon  the  mind  and  affections  of  the  child.'*  And  you 
must  not  be  permitted  to  transfer  the  admissions  which  we 
freely  make  in  regard  of  '  instruction,'  as  though  they  also 
held  good  in  respect  of  '  education.'  For  what  is  '  educa- 
tion '  ?  Is  it  a  furnishing  of  a  man  from  without  with  knowl- 
edge and  facts  and  information?  or  is  it  a  drawing  forth 
from  within  and  a  training  of  the  spirit,  of  the  true  humanity 
which  is  latent  in  him?  Is  the  process  of  education  the 
filling  of  the  child's  mind,  as  a  cistern  is  filled  with  water 

184 


ON    THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

brought  in  buckets  from  some  other  source?  or  the  opening 
up  for  that  child  of  fountains  which  are  already  there? 
Now  if  we  give  any  heed  to  the  word  '  education,'  and  to 
the  voice  which  speaks  therein,  we  shall  not  long  be  in  doubt. 
Education  must  educe,  being  from  *  educare,'  which  is  but 
another  form  of  '  educere  ' ;  and  that  is  to  draw  out,  and  not 
to  put  in.  '  To  draw  out '  what  is  in  the  child,  the  immortal 
spirit  which  is  there,  this  is  the  end  of  education;  and  so 
much  the  word  declares.  The  putting  in  is  indeed  most 
needful,  that  is,  the  child  must  be  instructed  as  well  as  edu- 
cated, and  '  instruction  '  means  furnishing ;  but  not  instructed 
instead  of  educated.  He  must  first  have  powers  awakened 
in  him,  measures  of  value  given  him ;  and  then  he  will  know 
how  to  deal  with  the  facts  of  this  outward  world;  then 
instruction  in  these  will  profit  him ;  but  not  without  the  higher 
training,  still  less  as  a  substitute  for  it. 

It  has  occasionally  happened  that  the  question  which 
out  of  two  apparent  synonyms  should  be  adopted  in  some 
important  state-document  has  been  debated  with  no  little 
earnestness  and  passion ;  as  at  the  great  English  Revolution 
of  1688,  when  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  were  at  issue 
whether  it  should  be  declared  of  James  II.  that  he  had 
'  abdicated,'  or  had  '  deserted,'  the  throne.  This  might 
seem  at  first  sight  a  mere  strife  about  words,  and  yet,  in 
reality,  serious  constitutional  questions  were  involved  in  the 
debate.  The  Commons  insisted  on  the  word  *  abdicated,' 
not  as  wishing  to  imply  that  in  any  act  of  the  late  king  there 
had  been  an  official  renunciation  of  the  crown,  which  would 
have  been  manifestly  untrue ;  but  because  '  abdicated '  in 
their  minds  alone  expressed  the  fact  that  James  had  so 
borne  himself  as  virtually  to  have  entirely  renounced,  dis- 
owned, and  relinquished  the  crown,  to  have  forfeited  and 
separated  himself  from  it,  and  from  any  right  to  it  for  ever ; 
while  '  deserted '  would  have  seemed  to  leave  room  and  an 

185 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

opening  for  a  return,  which  they  were  determined  to  de- 
clare for  ever  excluded;  as  were  it  said  of  a  husband  that 
he  had  '  deserted  '  his  wife,  or  of  a  soldier  that  he  had 
'  deserted  '  his  colours,  this  language  would  imply  not  only 
that  he  might,  but  that  he  was  bound  to  return.  The  speech 
of  Lord  Somers  on  the  occasion  is  a  masterly  specimen  of 
synonymous  discrimination,  and  an  example  of  the  uses  in 
highest  matters  of  state  to  which  it  may  be  turned.  As 
little  was  it  a  mere  verbal  struggle  when,  at  the  restoration 
a  good  many  years  ago  of  our  interrupted  relations  with 
Persia,  Lord  Palmerston  insisted  that  the  Shah  should  ad- 
dress the  Queen  of  England  not  as  '  Maleketh '  but  as 
'  Padishah,'  refusing  to  receive  letters  which  wanted  this 
superscription. 

Let  me  impress  upon  you,  in  conclusion,  some  few  of  the 
many  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  habit  of  distin- 
guishing synonyms.  These  advantages  we  might  presume 
to  be  many,  even  though  we  could  not  ourselves  perceive 
them;  for  how  often  do  the  greatest  masters  of  style  in 
every  tongue,  perhaps  none  so  often  as  Cicero,  the  greatest 
of  all,^®^  pause  to  discriminate  between  the  words  they  are 
using;  how  much  care  and  labour,  how  much  subtlety  of 
thought,  they  have  counted  well  bestowed  on  the  operation ; 
how  much  importance  they  avowedly  attach  to  it ;  not  to  say 
that  their  works,  even  where  they  do  not  intend  it,  will 
afford  a  continual  lesson  in  this  respect:  a  great  vrriter 
merely  in  the  precision  and  accuracy  with  which  he  em- 
ploys words  will  always  be  exercising  us  in  synonymous 
distinction.  But  the  advantages  of  attending  to  synonyms 
need  not  be  taken  on  trust;  they  are  evident.  How  large 
a  part  of  true  wisdom  it  is  to  be  able  to  distinguish  between 
things  that  differ,  things  seemingly,  but  not  really,  alike, 
is  very  remarkably  attested  by  our  words  '  discernment ' 
and  '  discretion  ' ;  which  are  now  used  as  equivalent,  the  first 

186 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

to  '  insight/  the  second  to  '  prudence  ' ;  while  yet  in  their 
earlier  usage,  and  according  to  their  etymology,  being  both 
from  '  discerno,'  they  signify  the  power  of  so  seeing  things 
that  in  the  seeing  we  distinguish  and  separate  them  one 
from  another.^^^  Such  were  originally  '  discernment '  and 
*  discretion/  and  such  in  great  measure  they  are  still.  And 
in  words  is  a  material  ever  at  hand  on  which  to  train  the 
spirit  to  a  skilfulness  in  this;  on  which  to  exercise  its  sa- 
gacity through  the  habit  of  distinguishing  there  where  it 
would  be  so  easy  to  confound.^^*  Nor  is  this  habit  of  dis- 
crimination only  valuable  as  a  part  of  our  intellectual  train- 
ing; but  what  a  positive  increase  is  it  of  mental  wealth 
when  we  have  learned  to  discern  between  things  which 
really  diifer,  and  have  made  the  distinctions  between  them 
permanently  our  own  in  the  only  way  whereby  they  can  be 
made  secure,  that  is,  by  assigning  to  each  its  appropriate 
word  and  peculiar  sign. 

In  the  effort  to  trace  lines  of  demarcation  you  may  little 
by  little  be  drawn  into  the  heart  of  subjects  the  most 
instructive;  for  only  as  you  have  thoroughly  mastered  a 
subject,  and  all  which  is  most  characteristic  about  it,  can 
you  hope  to  trace  these  lines  with  accuracy  and  success. 
Thus  a  Roman  of  the  higher  classes  might  bear  four 
names :  '  praenomen,'  '  nomen,'  *  cognomen,'  *  agnomen  ' ; 
almost  always  bore  three.  You  will  know  something  of  the 
political  and  family  life  of  Rome  when  you  can  tell  the 
exact  story  of  each  of  these,  and  the  precise  difference  be- 
tween them.  He  will  not  be  altogether  ignorant  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  of  the  clamps  which  in  those  ages  bound 
society  together,  who  has  learned  exactly  to  distinguish 
between  a  '  fief  '  and  a  '  benefice.'  He  will  have  obtained 
a  firm  grasp  on  some  central  facts  of  theology  who  can 
exactly  draw  out  the  distinction  between  *  reconciliation,' 
'  propitiation,'  *  atonement,'  as  used  in  the  New  Testament ; 

187 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

of  Church  history,  who  cin  trace  the  difference  between  a 
'  schism  '  and  a  *  heresy.'  One  who  has  learned  to  dis- 
criminate between  '  detraction '  and  '  slander/  as  Barrow 
has  done  before  him/^*"'  or  between  *  emulation  '  and  '  envy/ 
in  which  South  has  excellently  shown  him  the  way/^®  or 
between  '  avarice '  and  '  covetousness/  with  Cowley,  will 
have  made  no  unprofitable  excursion  into  the  region  of 
ethics. 

How  effectual  a  help,  moreover,  will  it  prove  to  the  writ- 
ing of  a  good  English  style,  if  instead  of  choosing  almost 
at  hap-hazard  from  a  group  of  words  which  seem  to  us 
one  about  as  fit  for  our  purpose  as  another,  we  at  once  know 
which,  and  which  only,  we  ought  in  the  case  before  us  to 
employ,  which  will  prove  the  exact  vesture  of  our  thoughts. 
It  is  the  first  characteristic  of  a  well-dressed  man  that  his 
clothes  fit  him:  they  are  not  too  small  and  shrunken  here, 
too  large  and  loose  there.  Now  it  is  precisely  such  a  prime 
characteristic  of  a  good  style,  that  the  words  fit  close  to 
the  thoughts.  They  will  not  be  too  big  here,  hanging  like 
a  giant's  robe  on  the  limbs  of  a  dwarf;  nor  too  small  there, 
as  a  boy's  garments  into  which  the  man  has  painfully  and 
ridiculously  thrust  himself.  You  do  not,  as  you  read,  feel 
in  one  place  that  the  writer  means  more  than  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  saying;  in  another  that  he  has  said  more  than  he 
means;  in  a  third  something  beside  what  his  precise  inten- 
tion was;  in  a  fourth  that  he  has  failed  to  convey  any 
meaning  at  all ;  and  all  this  from  a  lack  of  skill  in  employ- 
ing the  instrument  of  language,  of  precision  in  knowing 
what  words  would  be  the  exactest  correspondents  and  aptest 
exponents  of  his  thoughts. ^®^ 

What  a  wealth  of  words  in  almost  every  language  lies 
inert  and  unused;  and  certainly  not  fewest  in  our  own. 
How  much  of  what  might  be  as  current  coin  among  us,  is 
shut  up  in  the  treasure-house  of  a  few  classical  authors, 

188 


ON    THE    DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

or  is  never  to  be  met  at  all  but  in  the  columns  of  the  dic- 
tionary, we  meanwhile,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  riches,  con- 
demning ourselves  to  a  voluntary  poverty;  and  often,  with 
tasks  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  to  accomplish, — for 
surely  the  clothing  of  thought  in  its  most  appropriate  gar- 
ment of  words  is  such, — needlessly  depriving  ourselves  or 
a  large  portion  of  the  helps  at  our  command;  like  some 
workman  who,  being  furnished  for  an  operation  that  will 
challenge  all  his  skill  with  a  dozen  different  tools,  each 
adapted  for  its  own  special  purpose,  should  in  his  indolence 
and  self-conceit  persist  in  using  only  one;  doing  coarsely 
what  might  have  been  done  finely;  or  leaving  altogether 
undone  that  which,  with  such  assistances,  was  quite  within 
his  reach.  And  thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  in  the  common 
intercourse  of  life,  often  too  in  books,  a  certain  restricted 
number  of  words  are  worked  almost  to  death,  employed  in 
season  and  out  of  season — a  vast  multitude  meanwhile  being 
rarely,  if  at  all,  called  to  render  the  service  which  they 
could  render  far  better  than  any  other;  so  rarely,  indeed, 
that  little  by  little  they  slip  out  of  sight  and  are  forgotten 
nearly  or  altogether.  And  then,  perhaps,  at  some  later 
day,  when  their  want  is  felt,  the  ignorance  into  which  we 
have  allowed  ourselves  to  fall,  of  the  resources  offered  by 
the  language  to  satisfy  new  demands,  sends  us  abroad  in 
search  of  outlandish  substitutes  for  words  which  we  already 
possess  at  home.^^*  It  was,  no  doubt,  to  avoid  so  far  as 
possible  such  an  impoverishment  of  the  language  which 
he  spoke  and  wrote,  for  the  feeding  of  his  own  speech  with 
words  capable  of  serving  him  well,  but  in  danger  of  falling 
quite  out  of  his  use,  that  the  great  Lord  Chatham  had 
Bailey's  Dictionary,  the  best  of  his  time,  twice  read  to  him 
from  one  end  to  the  other. 

And  let  us  not  suppose  the  power  of  exactly  saying  what 
we  mean^  and  neither  more  nor  less  than  we  mean^  to  be 

189 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

merely  a  graceful  mental  accomplishment.  It  is  indeed 
this,  and  perhaps  there  is  no  power  so  surely  indicative  of 
a  high  and  accurate  training  of  the  intellectual  faculties. 
But  it  is  much  more  than  this :  it  has  a  moral  value  as  well. 
It  is  nearly  allied  to  morality,  inasmuch  as  it  is  nearly 
connected  with  truthfulness.  Every  man  who  has  himself 
in  any  degree  cared  for  the  truth,  and  occupied  himself  in 
seeking  it,  is  more  or  less  aware  how  much  of  the  false- 
hood in  the  world  passes  current  under  the  concealment  of 
words,  how  many  strifes  and  controversies, 

'  Which  feed  the  simple,  and  oiFend  the  wise,* 

find  all  or  nearly  all  the  fuel  that  maintains  them  in  words 
carelessly  or  dishonestly  employed.  And  when  a  man  has 
had  any  actual  experience  of  this,  and  at  all  perceived  how 
far  this  mischief  reaches,  he  is  sometimes  almost  tempted 
to  say  with  Shakespeare,  '  Out,  idle  words,  servants  to  shal- 
low fools  ' ;  to  adopt  the  saying  of  his  clown,  *  Words  are 
grown  so  false  I  am  loathe  to  prove  reason  with  them.'  He 
cannot,  however,  forego  their  employment;  not  to  say  that 
he  will  presently  perceive  that  this  falseness  of  theirs 
whereof  he  accuses  them,  this  cheating  power,  is  not  of  their 
proper  use,  but  only  of  their  abuse;  he  will  see  that,  how- 
ever they  may  have  been  enlisted  in  the  service  of  lies, 
they  are  yet  of  themselves  most  true;  and  that,  where  the 
bane  is,  there  the  antidote  should  be  sought  as  well.  If 
Goethe's  Faust  denounces  words  and  the  falsehood  of 
words,  it  is  by  the  aid  of  words  that  he  does  it.  Ask  then 
words  what  they  mean,  that  you  may  deliver  yourselves, 
that  you  may  help  to  deliver  others,  from  the  tyranny  of 
words,  and,  to  use  Baxter's  excellent  phrase,  from  the  strife 
of  '  word- warriors.'  Learn  to  distinguish  between  them,  for 
you  have  the  authority  of  Hooker,  that  '  the  mixture  of  those 
things  by  speech,  which  by  nature  are  divided,  is  the  mother 

190 


ON   THE   DISTINCTION    OF   WORDS 

of  all  error.'  ^^^  And  although  I  cannot  promise  you  that 
the  study  of  synonyms,  or  the  acquaintance  with  deriva- 
tions, or  any  other  knowledge,  but  the  very  highest  knowl- 
edge of  all,  will  deliver  you  from  the  temptation  to  misuse 
this  or  any  other  gift  of  God — a  temptation  always  lying 
so  near  us — yet  I  am  sure  that  these  studies  rightly  pur- 
sued will  do  much  in  leading  us  to  stand  in  awe  of  this 
gift  of  speech,  and  to  tremble  at  the  thought  of  turning  it 
to  any  other  than  those  worthy  ends  for  which  God  has 
endowed  us  with  a  faculty  so  divine. 


191 


LECTURE    7 

The  Schoohnaster' s  Use  of  Words 

At  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851,  there  might  be  seen 
a  collection,  probably  by  far  the  completest  which  had  ever 
been  got  together,  of  what  were  called  the  material  helps  of 
education.  There  was  then  gathered  in  a  single  room  all  the 
outward  machinery  of  moral  and  intellectual  training;  all 
by  which  order  might  be  best  maintained,  the  labour  of  the 
teacher  and  the  taught  economized,  with  a  thousand  ingen- 
ious devices  suggested  by  the  best  experience  of  many 
minds,  and  of  these  during  many  years.  Nor  were  these 
material  helps  of  education  merely  mechanical.  There  were 
in  that  collection  vivid  representations  of  places  and  ob- 
jects; models  which  often  preserved  their  actual  forms  and 
proportions,  not  to  speak  of  maps  and  of  books.  No  one 
who  is  aware  how  much  in  schools,  and  indeed  everywhere 
else,  depends  on  what  apparently  is  slight  and  external, 
would  lightly  esteem  the  helps  and  hints  which  such  a  col- 
lection would  furnish.  And  yet  it  would  be  well  for  us  to 
remember  that  even  if  we  were  to  obtain  all  this  apparatus 
in  its  completest  form,  at  the  same  time  possessing  the  most 
perfect  skill  in  its  application,  so  that  it  should  never  en- 
cumber but  always  assist  us,  we  should  yet  have  obtained 
very  little  compared  with  that  which,  as  a  help  to  education, 
is  already  ours.  When  we  stand  face  to  face  with  a  child, 
that  spoken  or  imspoken  word  which  the  child  possesses  in 
common  with  ourselves  is  a  far  more  potent  implement  and 
aid  of  education  than  all  these  external  helps,  even  though 
they  should  be  accumulated  and  multiplied  a  thousandfold. 
A  reassuring  thought  for  those  who  may  not  have  many  of 

192 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

these  helps  within  their  reach,  a  warning  thought  for  those 
who  might  be  tempted  to  put  their  trust  in  them.  On  the 
occasion  of  that  Exhibition  to  which  I  have  referred,  it 
was  well  said,  *  On  the  structure  of  language  are  impressed 
the  most  distinct  and  durable  records  of  the  habitual  oper- 
ations of  the  human  powers.  In  the  full  possession  of  lan- 
guage each  man  has  a  vast,  almost  an  inexhaustible,  treas- 
ure of  examples  of  the  most  subtle  and  varied  processes  of 
human  thought.  Much  apparatus,  many  material  helps, 
some  of  them  costly,  may  be  employed  to  assist  education; 
but  there  is  no  apparatus  which  is  so  necessary,  or  which 
can  do  so  much,  as  that  which  is  the  most  common  and  the 
cheapest — which  is  always  at  hand,  and  ready  for  every 
need.  Every  language  contains  in  it  the  result  of  a  greater 
number  of  educational  processes  and  educational  experi- 
ments, than  we  could  by  any  amount  of  labour  and  ingenu- 
ity accumulate  in  any  educational  exhibition  expressly  con- 
trived for  such  a  purpose.' 

Being  entirely  convinced  that  this  is  nothing  more  than 
the  truth,  I  shall  endeavour  in  my  closing  lecture  to  suggest 
some  ways  in  which  you  may  eiFectually  use  this  marvel- 
lous implement  which  you  possess  to  the  better  fulfilling 
of  that  which  you  have  chosen  as  the  proper  task  of  your 
life.  You  will  gladly  hear  something  upon  this  matter; 
for  you  will  never,  I  trust,  disconnect  what  you  may  your- 
selves be  learning  from  the  hope  and  prospect  of  being 
enabled  thereby  to  teach  others  more  effectually.  If  you 
do,  and  your  studies  in  this  way  become  a  selfish  thing,  if  you 
are  content  to  leave  them  barren  of  all  profit  to  others,  of 
this  you  may  be  sure,  that  in  the  end  they  will  prove  not 
less  barren  of  profit  to  yourselves.  In  one  noble  line  Chau- 
cer has  characterized  the  true  scholar: — 

*  And  gladly  would  he  learn,  and  gladly  teach.' 

193 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Print  these  words  on  your  remembrance.  Resolve  that  in 
the  spirit  of  this  line  you  will  work  and  live. 

But  take  here  a  word  or  two  of  warning  before  we  ad- 
vance any  further.  You  cannot^  of  course,  expect  to  make 
any  original  investigations  in  language;  but  you  can  follow 
safe  guides,  such  as  shall  lead  you  by  right  paths,  even  as 
you  may  follow  such  as  can  only  lead  you  astray.  Do  not 
fail  to  keep  in  mind  that  perhaps  in  no  region  of  human 
knowledge  are  there  such  a  multitude  of  unsafe  leaders  as 
in  this ;  for  indeed  this  science  of  words  is  one  which  many, 
professing  for  it  an  earnest  devotion,  have  done  their  best 
or  their  worst  to  bring  into  discredit,  and  to  make  a  laugh- 
ing-stock at  once  of  the  foolish  and  the  wise.  Niebuhr  has 
somewhere  noted  '  the  unspeakable  spirit  of  absurdity ' 
which  seemed  to  possess  the  ancients,  whenever  they  med- 
dled with  this  subject;  but  the  charge  reaches  others  beside 
them.  Their  mantle,  it  must  be  owned,  has  in  after  times 
often  fallen  upon  no  unworthy  successors. 

What  is  commoner,  even  now,  than  to  find  the  investigator 
of  words  and  their  origin  looking  round  about  him  here  and 
there,  in  all  the  languages,  ancient  and  modern,  to  which 
he  has  any  access,  till  he  lights  on  some  word,  it  matters 
little  to  him  in  which  of  these,  more  or  less  resembling  that 
which  he  wishes  to  derive.^  and  this  found,  to  consider  his 
problem  solved,  and  that  in  this  phantom  hunt  he  has  suc- 
cessfully run  down  his  prey.  Even  Dr.  Johnson,  with  his 
robust,  strong,  English  common-sense,  too  often  offends  in 
this  way.  In  many  respects  his  Dictionary  will  probably 
never  be  surpassed.  We  shall  never  have  more  concise, 
more  accurate,  more  vigorous  explanations  of  the  actual 
meaning  of  words,  at  the  time  when  it  was  published,  than 
he  has  furnished.  But  even  those  who  recognize  the  most 
fully  this  merit,  must  allow  that  he  was  ill  equipped  by  any 
preliminary  studies  for  tracing  the  past  history  of  words; 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

that  in  this  he  errs  often  and  signally;  sometimes  where 
the  smallest  possible  amount  of  knowledge  would  have  pre- 
served him  from  error;  as  for  instance  when  he  derives  the 
name  of  the  peacock  from  the  peak,  or  tuft  of  pointed 
feathers,  on  its  head!  while  other  derivations  proposed  or 
allowed  by  him  and  others  are  so  far  more  absurd  than  this, 
that  when  Swift,  in  ridicule  of  the  whole  band  of  philol- 
ogers,  suggests  that  *  ostler  '  is*  only  a  contraction  of  oat- 
stealer,  and  *  breeches  '  of  bear-riches,  these  etymologies 
are  scarcely  more  ridiculous  than  many  which  have  in  sober 
earnest,  and  by  men  of  no  inconsiderable  reputation,  been 
proposed. 

Oftentimes  in  this  scheme  of  random  etymology,  a  word 
in  one  language  is  derived  from  one  in  another,  in  bold 
defiance  of  the  fact  that  no  points  of  historic  contact  or 
connexion,  mediate  or  immediate,  have  ever  existed  between 
the  two;  the  etymologist  not  caring  to  ask  himself  whether 
it  was  thus  so  much  as  possible  that  the  word  should  have 
passed  from  the  one  language  to  the  other ;  whether  in  fact 
the  resemblance  is  not  merely  superficial  and  illusory,  one 
which,  so  soon  as  they  are  stripped  of  their  accidents,  dis- 
appears altogether.  Take  a  few  specimens  of  this  manner 
of  dealing  with  words;  and  first  from  the  earlier  etymolo- 
gists. Thus,  what  are  men  doing  but  extending  not  the 
limits  of  their  knowledge  but  of  their  ignorance,  when  they 
deduce,  with  Varro,  '  pavo  '  from  '  pavor,'  because  of  the 
fear  which  the  harsh  shriek  of  the  peacock  awakens;  or 
with  Pliny,  '  panthera  '  from  ttSv  Orjpiovy  because  proper- 
ties of  all  beasts  meet  in  the  panther;  or  persuade  them- 
selves that  '  formica,'  the  ant,  is  '  f erens  micas,'  the  grain- 
bearer?  Medieval  suggestions  abound,  as  vain,  and  if 
possible,  vainer  still.  Thus  Sirens,  as  Chaucer  assures  us, 
are  *  sereyns,'  being  fair-weather  creatures  only  to  be  seen 
in  a  calm.    '  Apis,'  a  bee,  is  olttovs  or  without  feet,  bees  being 

195 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

born  without  feet,  the  etymology  and  the  natural  history 
keeping  excellent  company  together.  Or  what  shall  we  say 
of  deriving  *  mors  '  from  '  amarus/  because  death  is  bitter ; 
or  from  '  Mars/  because  death  is  frequent  in  war ;  or  '  a 
morsu  vetiti  pomi/  because  that  forbidden  bite  brought 
death  into  the  w^orld;  or  with  a  modern  investigator  of  lan- 
guage, and  one  of  higli  reputation  in  his  time,  deducing 
'  girl '  from  '  garrula/  because  girls  are  commonly  talka- 
tive? 2o« 

All  experience,  indeed,  proves  how  perilous  it  is  to  ety- 
mologize at  random,  and  on  the  strength  of  mere  surface 
similarities  of  sound.  Let  me  illustrate  the  absurdities  into 
which  this  may  easily  betray  us  by  an  amusing  example. 
A  clergyman,  who  himself  told  me  the  story,  had  sought, 
and  not  unsuccessfully,  to  kindle  in  his  schoolmaster  a  pas- 
sion for  the  study  of  derivations.  His  scholar  inquired  of 
him  one  day  if  he  were  aware  of  the  derivation  of  '  crypt '  ? 
He  naturally  replied  in  the  affirmative,  that  *  crypt '  came 
from  a  Greek  word  to  conceal,  and  meant  a  covered  place, 
itself  concealed,  and  where  things  which  it  was  wished  to 
conceal  were  placed.  The  other  rejoined  that  he  was  quite 
aware  the  word  was  commonly  so  explained  but  he  had  no 
doubt  erroneously ;  that  '  crypt,'  as  he  had  now  convinced 
himself,  was  in  fact  contracted  from  *  cry-pit ' ;  being  the 
pit  where  in  days  of  Popish  tyranny  those  who  were  con- 
demned to  cruel  penances  were  plunged,  and  out  of  which 
their  cry  was  heard  to  come  up — therefore  called  the  '  cry- 
pit,'  now  contracted  into  '  crypt ' !  Let  me  say,  before  quit- 
ting my  tale,  that  I  would  far  sooner  a  schoolmaster  made  a 
hundred  such  mistakes  than  that  he  should  be  careless  and 
incurious  in  all  which  concerned  the  words  which  he  was 
using.  To  make  mistakes,  as  we  are  in  the  search  of  knowl- 
edge, is  far  more  honourable  than  to  escape  making  them 
through  never  having  set  out  in  this  search  at  all. 

196 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

But  while  errors  like  his  may  very  well  be  pardoned,  of 
this  we  may  be  sure,  that  they  will  do  little  in  etymology, 
will  continually  err  and  cause  others  to  err,  who  in  these 
studies  leave  this  out  of  sight  for  an  instant — namely,  that 
no  amount  of  resemblance  between  words  in  different  lan- 
guages is  of  itself  sufficient  to  prove  that  they  are  akin,  even 
as  no  amount  of  apparent  unlikeness  in  sound  or  present 
form  is  sufficient  to  disprove  consanguinity.  *  Judge  not 
according  to  appearances,'  must  everywhere  here  be  the 
rule.  One  who  in  many  regions  of  human  knowledge  antic- 
ipated the  discoveries  of  later  times,  said  well  a  century  and 
a  half  ago,  *  Many  etymologies  are  true,  which  at  the  first 
blush  are  not  probable  ' ;  ^^^  and,  as  he  might  have  added, 
many  appear  probable,  which  are  not  true.  This  being 
so,  it  is  our  wisdom  on  the  one  side  to  distrust  superficial 
likenesses,  on  the  other  not  to  be  repelled  by  superficial 
differences.  Have  no  faith  in  those  who  etymologize  on 
the  strength  of  sounds,  and  not  on  that  of  letters,  and  of 
letters,  moreover,  dealt  with  according  to  fixed  and  recog- 
nized laws  of  equivalence  and  permutation.  Much,  as  was 
said  so  well,  is  true,  which  does  not  seem  probable.  Thus 
'  dens  '  ^^^  and  '  Zahn  '  and  '  tooth  '  are  all  the  same  word, 
and  such  in  like  manner  are  x^*'>  *  anser,*  '  Gans,'  and 
'  goose; '  and  again,  haKpv  and  'tear.'  Who,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  not  take  for  granted  that  our  *  much  '  and  the 
Spanish  *  mucho,'  identical  in  meaning,  were  also  in  etymol- 
ogy nearly  related  ?  There  is  in  fact  no  connexion  between 
them.      Between   *  vulgus  '    and   *  Volk  '   there   is   as   little. 

*  Auge,*  the  German  form  of  our  '  eye,'  is  in  every  letter 
identical  with  a  Greek  word  for  splendour  [avyrj ) ;  and  yet, 
intimate  as  is  the  connexion  between  German  and  Greek, 
these  have  no  relation  with  one  another  whatever.  Not 
many  years  ago  a  considerable  scholar  identified  the  Greek 

*  holos  '   (0A05)  and  our  '  whole ; '  and  few,  I  should  imag- 

197 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

ine,  have  not  been  tempted  at  one  stage  of  their  knowledge 
to  do  the  same.  These  also  are  in  no  way  related.  Need 
I  remind  you  here  of  the  importance  of  seeking  to  obtain 
in  every  case  the  earliest  spelling  of  a  word  which  is  attain- 
able .^^^^ 

Here  then,  as  elsewhere,  the  condition  of  all  successful 
investigation  is  to  have  learned  to  disregard  phenomena, 
the  deceitful  shows  and  appearances  of  things;  to  have 
resolved  to  reach  and  to  grapple  with  the  things  themselves. 
It  is  the  fable  of  Proteus  over  again.  He  will  take  a  thou- 
sand shapes  wherewith  he  will  seek  to  elude  and  delude 
one  who  is  determined  to  extort  from  him  that  true  answer, 
which  he  is  capable  of  yielding,  but  will  only  yield  on 
compulsion.  The  true  inquirer  is  deceived  by  none  of  these. 
He  still  holds  him  fast;  binds  him  in  strong  chains;  until 
he  takes  his  proper  shape  at  the  last;  and  answer  as  a  true 
seer,  so  far  as  answer  is  possible,  whatever  question  may 
be  put  to  him.  Nor,  let  me  observe  by  the  way,  will  that 
man's  gain  be  small  who,  having  so  learned  to  distrust  the 
obvious  and  the  plausible,  carries  into  other  regions  of 
study  and  of  action  the  lessons  which  he  has  thus  learned; 
determines  to  seek  the  ground  of  things,  and  to  plant  his 
foot  upon  that;  believes  that  a  lie  may  look  very  fair,  and 
yet  be  a  lie  after  all;  that  the  truth  may  show  very  unat- 
tractive, very  unlikely  and  paradoxical,  and  yet  be  the 
very  truth  notwithstanding. 

To  return  from  a  long,  but  not  unnecessary  digression. 
Convinced  as  I  am  of  the  immense  advantage  of  following 
up  words  to  their  sources,  of  *  deriving  '  them,  that  is,  of 
tracing  each  little  rill  to  the  rivei*  from  whence  it  was  first 
drawn,  I  can  conceive  no  method  of  so  effectually  defac- 
ing and  barbarizing  our  English  tongue,  of  practically 
emptying  it  of  all  the  hoarded  wit,  wisdom,  imagination, 
and  history  which  it  contains,  of  cutting  the  vital  nerve 

198 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

which  connects  its  present  with  the  past,  as  the  introduction 
of  the  scheme  of  phonetic  spelling,  which  some  have  lately- 
been  zealously  advocating  among  us.  I  need  hardly  tell 
you  that  the  fundamental  idea  of  this  is  that  all  words 
should  be  spelt  as  they  are  sounded,  that  the  writing  should, 
in  every  case,  be  subordinated  to  the  speaking.^^*  This, 
namely  that  writing  should  in  every  case  and  at  all  costs 
be  subordinated  to  speaking,  which  is  everywhere  tacitly 
assumed  as  not  needing  any  proof,  is  the  fallacy  which  runs 
through  the  whole  scheme.  There  is,  indeed,  no  necessity 
at  all  for  this.  Every  word,  on  the  contrary,  has  two  exist- 
ences, as  a  spoken  word  and  a  written;  and  you  have  no 
right  to  sacrifice  one  of  these,  or  even  to  subordinate  it 
wholly,  to  the  other.  A  word  exists  as  truly  for  the  eye 
as  for  the  ear;  and  in  a  highly  advanced  state  of  society, 
where  reading  is  almost  as  universal  as  speaking,  quite  as 
much  for  the  one  as  for  the  other.  That  in  the  written 
word  moreover  is  the  permanence  and  continuity  of  lan- 
guage and  of  learning,  and  that  the  connexion  is  most  inti- 
mate of  a  true  orthography  with  all  this,  is  affirmed  in  our 
words,  '  letters,'  '  literature,'  '  unlettered,'  as  in  other  lan- 
guages by  words  exactly  corresponding  to  these.^*^^ 

The  gains  consequent  on  the  introduction  of  such  a  change 
in  our  manner  of  spelling  would  be  insignificantly  small, 
the  losses  enormously  great.  There  would  be  a  gain  in  the 
saving  of  a  certain  amount  of  the  labour  now  spent  in 
learning  to  spell.  The  amount  of  labour,  however,  is  ab- 
surdly exaggerated  by  the  promoters  of  the  scheme.  I 
forget  how  many  thousand  hours  a  phonetic  reformer  lately 
assured  us  were  on  an  average  spent  by  every  English  child 
in  learning  to  spell ;  or  how  much  time  by  grown  men,  who, 
as.  he  assured  us,  for  the  most  part  rarely  attempted  to 
write  a  letter  without  a  Johnson's  Dictionary  at  their  side. 
But  even  this  gain  would  not  long  remain,  seeing  that  pro- 

199 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

nunciation  is  itself  continually  changing;  custom  is  lord 
here  for  better  and  for  worse ;  and  a  multitude  of  words  are 
now  pronounced  in  a  manner  different  from  that  of  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  indeed  from  that  of  ten  years  ago ;  so  that, 
before  very  long,  there  would  again  be  a  chasm  between 
the  spelling  and  the  pronunciation  of  words; — unless  in- 
deed the  spelling  varied,  which  it  could  not  consistently 
refuse  to  do,  as  the  pronunciation  varied,  reproducing  each 
of  its  capricious  or  barbarous  alterations ;  these  last,  it  must 
be  remembered,  being  changes  not  in  the  pronunciation 
only,  but  in  the  word  itself,  which  would  only  exist  as 
pronounced,  the  written  word  being  a  mere  shadow  servilely 
waiting  upon  the  spoken.  When  these  changes  had  multi- 
plied a  little,  and  they  would  indeed  multiply  exceedingly 
on  the  removal  of  the  barriers  to  change  which  now  exist, 
what  the  language  before  long  would  become,  it  is  not  easy 
to  guess. 

This  fact,  however,  though  sufficient  to  show  how  inef- 
fectual the  scheme  of  phonetic  spelling  would  prove,  even 
for  the  removing  of  those  inconveniences  which  it  proposes 
to  remedy,  is  only  the  smallest  objection  to  it.  The  far 
more  serious  charge  which  may  be  brought  against  it  is, 
that  in  words  out  of  number  it  would  obliterate  those  clear 
marks  of  birth  and  parentage,  which  they  bear  now  upon 
their  fronts,  or  are  ready,  upon  a  very  slight  interrogation, 
to  reveal.  Words  have  now  an  ancestry;  and  the  ancestry 
of  words,  as  of  men,  is  often  a  very  noble  possession,  mak- 
ing them  capable  of  great  things,  because  those  from  whom 
they  are  descended  have  done  great  things  before  them; 
but  this  would  deface  their  scutcheon,  and  bring  them  all 
to  the  same  ignoble  level.  Words  are  now  a  nation,  grouped 
into  tribes  and  families,  some  smaller,  some  larger;  this 
change  would  go  far  to  reduce  them  to  a  promiscuous  and 
barbarous   horde.      Now   they   are   often   translucent  with 

200 


CHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 


their  inner  thought,  lighted  up  by  it;  in  how  many  cases 
would  this  inner  light  be  then  quenched!  They  have  now 
a  body  and  a  soul,  the  soul  quickening  the  body ;  then  often- 
times nothing  but  body,  forsaken  by  the  spirit  of  life, 
would  remain.  These  objections  were  urged  long  ago  by 
Bacon,  who  characterizes  this  so-called  reformation,  '  that 
writing  should  be  consonant  to  speaking,'  as  '  a  branch  of 
unprofitable  subtlety ;  '  and  especially  urges  that  thereby 
'  the  derivations  of  words,  especially  from  foreign  lan- 
guages, are  utterly  defaced  and  extinguished.'  ^^^ 

From  the  results  of  various  approximations  to  phonetic 
spelling,  which  at  different  times  have  been  made,  and  the 
losses  thereon  ensuing,  we  may  guess  what  the  loss  would 
be  were  the  system  fully  carried  out.  Of  those  fairly  ac- 
quainted with  Latin,  it  would  be  curious  to  know  how  many 
have  seen  *  silva  '  in  '  savage,'  since  it  has  been  so  written, 
and  not  '  salvage,'  as  of  old ;  or  have  been  reminded  of  the 
hindrances  to  a  civilized  and  human  society  which  the 
indomitable  forest,  more  perhaps  than  any  other  obstacle, 
presents.  When  '  fancy  '  was  spelt  '  phant'sy,'  as  by  Syl- 
vester in  his  translation  of  Du  Bartas,  and  other  scholarly 
writers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  no  one  could  doubt  of 
its  identity  with  '  phantasy,'  as  no  Greek  scholar  could  miss 
its  relation  with  (^avTaa-ta.  Spell  '  analyse '  as  I  have  some- 
times seen  it,  and  as  phonetically  it  ought  to  be,  '  annalize,' 
and  the  tap-root  of  the  word  is  cut.  How  many  readers  will 
recognize  in  it  then  the  image  of  dissolving  and  resolving 
aught  into  its  elements,  and  use  it  with  a  more  or  less  con- 
scious reference  to  this.^  It  may  be  urged  that  few  do  so 
even  now.  The  more  need  they  should  not  be  fewer;  for 
these  few  do  in  fact  retain  the  word  in  its  place,  from  which 
else  it  might  gradually  drift;  they  preserve  its  vitality,  and 
the  propriety  of  its  use,  not  merely  for  themselves,  but 
also  for  the  others  that  have  not  this  knowledge.     In  pho- 

201 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

netic  spelling  is,  in  fact,  the  proposal  that  the  learned  and 
the  educated  should  of  free  choice  place  themselves  under 
the  disadvantages  of  the  ignorant  and  uneducated,  instead 
of  seeking  to  elevate  these  last  to  their  own  more  favoured 
condition. 

On  this  subject  one  observation  more.  The  multitude 
of  difficulties  of  every  sort  and  size  which  would  beset  the 
period  of  transition,  and  that  no  brief  period,  from  our 
present  spelling  to  the  very  easiest  form  of  phonetic,  seem 
to  me  to  be  almost  wholly  overlooked  by  those  who  are 
the  most  eager  to  press  forward  this  scheme;  while  yet  it 
is  very  noticeable  that  so  soon  as  ever  the  '  Spelling  Reform  ' 
approaches,  however  remotely,  a  practical  shape,  the  Re- 
formers, who  up  to  this  time  were  at  issue  with  all  the  rest 
of  the  world,  are  at  once  at  issue  among  themselves.  At 
once  the  question  comes  to  the  front.  Shall  the  labour-pangs 
of  this  immense  new-birth  or  transformation  of  English  be 
encountered  all  at  once  ?  or  shall  they  be  spread  over  years, 
and  little  by  little  the  necessary  changes  introduced.''  It 
would  not  be  easy  to  bring  together  two  scholars  who 
have  bestowed  more  thought  and  the  results  of  more  labo- 
rious study  on  the  whole  subject  of  phonetic  spelling  than 
Mr.  Ellis  and  Dr.  Murray  have  done,  while  yet  at  the 
last  annual  meeting  of  the  Philological  Society  (May  20, 
1881)  these  two  distinguished  scholars,  with  mutual  respect 
undiminished,  had  no  choice  but  to  acknowledge  that,  while 
they  were  seeking  the  same  objects,  the  means  by  which 
they  sought  to  attain  them  were  altogether  different,  and 
that,  in  the  judgment  of  each,  all  which  the  other  was  doing 
in  setting  forward  results  equally  dear  to  both  was  only 
tending  to  put  hindrances  in  the  way,  and  to  make  the 
attainment  of  those  results  remoter  than  ever. 

But  to  return.  Even  now  the  relationships  of  words, 
so  important  for  our  right  understanding  of  them,  are  con- 

202 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

tinually  overlooked;  a  very  little  matter  serving  to  conceal 
from  us  the  family  to  which  they  pertain.  Thus  how  many 
of  our  nouns  are  indeed  unsuspected  participles,  or  are 
otherwise  most  closely  connected  with  verbs,  with  which  we 
probably  never  think  of  putting  them  in  relation.  And  yet 
with  how  lively  an  interest  shall  we  discover  those  to  be  of 
closest  kin,  which  we  had  never  considered  but  as  entire 
strangers  to  one  another;  what  increased  mastery  over  our 
mother  tongue  shall  we  through  such  discoveries  obtain. 
Thus  '  wrong  '  is  an  adj  ective  related  to  the  verb  '  to  wring,' 
that  which  has  been  '  wrung  '  or  wrested  from  the  right ; 
as  in  French  '  tort,'  Latin  '  tortus,'  from  '  torqueo,'  is  '  the 
twisted.'  The  '  brunt '  of  the  battle  is  its  heat,  where  it 
'  burns  '  the  most  fiercely ;  the  '  haft '  of  a  knife,  probably 
that  whereby  you  '  have  '  or  hold  it. 

This  exercise  of  putting  words  in  their  true  relation  and^ 
connexion  with  one  another  might  be  carried  much  further.' 
Of  whole  groups  of  words,  which  may  seem  to  acknowledge 
no  kinship  with  one  another,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  show 
that  they  had  the  same  parentage,  or,  if  not  this,  a  cousin- 
ship  in  common.  For  instance,  here  are  '  shire,'  '  shore,' 
'  share,'  *  shears,'  '  shred,'  '  sherd  ' ;  all  most  closely  con- 
nected with  the  verb  '  to  shear,'  which  made  once  the  three 
perfects,  *  shore,'  '  share,'  '  sheared.'  '  Shire  '  is  a  district 
in  England,  separated  from  the  rest ;  a  '  share  '  is  a  portion 
of  anything  thus  divided  off ;  *  shears  '  are  instruments 
effecting  this  process  of  separation ;  the  '  shore  '  is  the  place 
where  the  continuity  of  the  land  is  interrupted  or  separated 
by  the  sea ;  a  '  shred  '  is  that  which  is  '  shered  '  or  shorn 
from  the  main  piece;  a  *  sherd,'  as  a  pot  '  sherd  '  (also  *  pot- 
share,'  Spenser),  that  which  is  broken  off  and  thus  divided 
from  the  vessel;  these  not  at  all  exhausting  this  group  or 
family  of  words,  though  it  would  occupy  more  time  than  we 
can  spare  to  put  some  other  words  in  their  relation  with  it. 

203 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

But  this  analysing  of  groups  of  words  for  the  detecting 
of  the  bond  of  relationship  between  them,  and  their  common 
root,  may  require  more  etymological  knowledge  than  you 
possess,  and  more  helps  from  books  than  you  can  always 
command.  There  is  another  process,  and  one  which  may 
prove  no  less  useful  to  yourselves  and  to  others,  which  will 
lie  more  certainly  within  your  reach.  You  will  meet  in 
books,  sometimes  in  the  same  book,  and  perhaps  in  the  same 
page  of  this  book,  a  word  used  in  senses  so  far  apart  from  one 
another  that  at  first  it  will  seem  to  you  absurd  to  suppose  any 
bond  of  connexion  between  them.  Now  when  you  thus  fall 
in  with  a  word  employed  in  these  two  or  more  senses  so  far 
removed  from  one  another,  accustom  yourselves  to  seek  out 
the  bond  which  there  certainly  is  between  these  several 
,  uses.  This  tracing  of  that  which  is  common  to  and  connects 
all  its  meanings  can  only  be  done  by  getting  to  its  centre  and 
heart,  to  the  seminal  meaning,  from  which,  as  from  a  fruit- 
ful seed,  all  the  others  unfold  themselves;  to  the  first  link 
in  the  chain,  from  which  every  later  one,  in  a  direct  line  or 
a  lateral,  depends.  We  may  proceed  in  this  investigation, 
certain  that  we  shall  find  such,  or  at  least  that  such  there 
is  to  be  found.  For  nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  this 
(and  the  non-recognition  of  it  is  a  serious  blemish  in  John- 
son's Dictionary) ,  that  a  word  has  originally  but  one  mean- 
ing, that  all  other  uses,  however  widely  they  may  diverge 
from  one  another  and  recede  from  this  one,  may  yet  be 
affiliated  to  it,  brought  back  to  the  one  central  meaning, 
which  grasps  and  knits  them  all  together;  just  as  the  sev- 
eral races  of  men,  black,  white,  and  yellow  and  red,  despite 
of  all  their  present  diversity  and  dispersion,  have  a  central 
point  of  unity  in  that  one  pair  from  which  they  all  have 
descended. 

Let  me  illustrate  this  by  two  or  three  familiar  examples. 
How  various  are  the  senses  in  which  'post'  is  used;   as 

204> 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

'  post  '-office ;  '  post  '-haste ;  a  '  post '  standing  in  the  ground ; 
a  military  '  post ' ;  an  official  *  post ' ;  '  to  post '  a  ledger. 
Is  it  possible  to  find  anything  which  is  common  to  all  these 
uses  of  *  post '  ?  When  once  we  are  on  the  right  track, 
nothing  is  easier.  '  Post '  is  the  Latin  '  positus/  that  which 
is  placed;  the  piece  of  timber  is  '  placed  '  in  the  ground, 
and  so  a  *  post ' ;  a  military  station  is  a  '  post/  for  a  man 
is  '  placed  '  in  it,  and  must  not  quit  it  without  orders ;  to 
travel  '  post,'  is  to  have  certain  relays  of  horses  '  placed ' 
at  intervals,  that  so  no  delay  on  the  road  may  occur;  the 
'  post  '-office  avails  itself  of  this  mode  of  communication ; 
to  *  post '  a  ledger  is  to  *  place  '  or  register  its  several  items. 
Once  more,  in  what  an  almost  infinite  number  of  senses 
*  stock  '  is  employed ;  we  have  live  *  stock,'  '  stock  '  in  trade 
or  on  the  farm,  the  village  '  stocks,'  the  *  stock  '  of  a  gun, 
the  '  stock  '-dove,  the  '  stocks,'  on  which  ships  are  built,  the 
'  stock  '  which  goes  round  the  neck,  the  family  *  stock,'  the 
'  stocks,'  or  public  funds,  in  which  money  is  invested,  with 
other  '  stocks  '  besides  these.  What  point  in  common  can 
we  find  between  them  all  ?  This,  that  being  all  derived  from 
one  verb,  they  cohere  in  the  idea  of  fixedness  which  is 
common  to  them  all.  Thus,  the  *  stock  '  of  a  gun  is  that  in 
which  the  barrel  is  fixed ;  the  village  *  stocks  '  are  those 
in  which  the  feet  are  fastened ;  the  '  stock  '  in  trade  is  the 
fixed  capital ;  and  so  too,  the  '  stock  '  on  the  farm,  although 
the  fixed  capital  has  there  taken  the  shape  of  horses  and 
cattle ;  in  the  '  stocks  '  or  public  funds,  money  sticks  fast, 
inasmuch  as  those  who  place  it  there  cannot  withdraw  or 
demand  the  capital,  but  receive  only  the  interest ;  the  '  stock  ' 
of  a  tree  is  fast  set  in  the  ground ;  and  from  this  use  of  the 
word  it  is  transferred  to  a  family ;  the  *  stock  '  is  that  from 
which  it  grows,  and  out  of  which  it  unfolds  itself.  And 
here  we  may  bring  in  the  *  stock  '-dove,  as  being  the  *  stock  ' 
or  stirps  of  the  domestic  kind.     I  might  group  with  these, 

205 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

'  stake  ' ;  a  '  stake  '  is  stuck  in  the  hedge  and  there  remains ; 
the  '  stakes  '  which  men  wager  against  the  issue  of  a  race 
are  paid  down,  and  thus  fixed  or  deposited  to  answer  the 
event. 

When  we  thus  affirm  that  the  divergent  meanings  of  a 
word  can  all  be  brought  back  to  some  one  point  from  which, 
immediately  or  mediately,  they  every  one  proceed,  that  none 
has  primarily  more  than  one  meaning,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  there  may  very  well  be  two  words,  or,  as  it  will 
sometimes  happen,  more,  spelt  as  well  as  pronounced  alike, 
which  yet  are  wholly  different  in  their  derivation  and  pri- 
mary usage ;  and  that,  of  course,  between  such  homonyms  or 
homographs  as  these  no  bond  of  union  on  the  score  of  this 
identity  is  to  be  sought.  Neither  does  this  fact  in  the  least 
invalidate  our  assertion.  We  have  in  them,  as  Cobbett 
expresses  it  well,  the  same  combination  of  letters,  but  not 
the  same  word.  Thus  we  have  '  page,'  the  side  of  a  leaf, 
from  '  pagina,'  and  *  page,'  a  small  boy ;  '  league,'  a  treaty 
(F.  ligue),  from  '  ligare,'  to  bind,  and  'league'  (O.F. 
legue),  from  leuca,  a  Celtic  measure  of  distance;  'host' 
(hostis),  an  army,  '  host '  (O.F.  hoste),  from  the  Latin 
hospitem,  and  'host'  (hostia),  in  the  Roman  Catholic  sac- 
rifice of  the  mass.  We  have  two  *  oimces  '  (uncia  and  It. 
onza)  ;  two  '  seals  '  (sigillum  and  O.E.  seolh)  ;  two  '  moods  ' 
(modus  and  O.E.  mod)  ;  two  '  sacks  '  (saccus  and  siccus)  ; 
two  '  sounds  '  (sonus  and  O.E.  sund)  ;  two  '  lakes  '  (lac 
and  laque)  ;  two  '  kennels  '  (canalis  and  canile)  ;  two  '  par- 
tisans '  (partisan  and  It.  parteggiana) ;  two  *  quires  * 
(choeur  and  cahier)  ;  two  '  corns  '  (corn  and  cornu)  ;  two 
'  ears  '  (Ohr  and  Ahre)  ;  two  '  doles  '  (deuil  and  Germ. 
Theil)  ;  two  '  perches  '  (pertica  and  perca)  ;  two  '  races  ' 
(Icel.  ras  and  the  Fr.  race)  ;  two  '  rocks,'  two  '  rooks,'  two 
'  sprays,'  two  '  saws,'  two  '  strains,'  two  '  trunks,'  two 
'helms,'  two  'quarries';  three  'moles,'  three  'rapes'    (as 

'206 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

the  '  rape  '  of  Proserpine^  the  *  rape  '  of  Bramber,  '  rape  '- 
seed)  ;  four  '  ports,'  three  '  vans/  three  *  smacks.'  Other 
homonyms  in  the  language  are  the  following:  '  ash,'  *  barb/ 

*  bark/  '  barnacle/  '  bat/  '  beetle/  '  bill/  *  bottle/  *  bound/ 

*  breeze/   '  bugle,'   '  bull/  *  cape/  *  caper,'  '  chap,'  *  cleave,' 

*  club,'    '  cob,'    *  crab,'    *  cricket,'    '  crop,'    '  culver,'    *  dam,' 

*  elder,'  *  flag,'  '  fold,'  '  font,'  *  fount,'  *  gin,'  *  gore,'  '  grain,' 

*  grin,'  '  gulf,'  *  gum,'  *  gust,'  '  herd,'  '  hind,'  *  hip,'  *  j  ade,' 
*jar,'  *jet,'  'junk,'  'lawn/  'lime,'  'link,'  'mace,'  'main,' 
'  mass,'  '  mast,'  '  match,'  '  meal,'  '  mint,'  *  moor,'  *  paddock,' 

*  painter,'    '  pawn,'    '  pernicious,'    '  plot,'    *  pulse,'    *  punch,' 

*  rush,'  '  scale,'  '  scrip,'  '  shingle,'  '  shock,'  *  shrub,'  '  smack,' 

*  soil,'  *  stud,'  '  swallow,'  '  tap,'  *  tent,'  '  toil,'  '  trinket,'  '  tur- 
tle.' You  will  find  it  profitable  to  follow  these  up  at  home, 
to  trace  out  the  two  or  more  words  which  have  clothed  them- 
selves in  exactly  the  same  outward  garb,  and  on  what  ety- 
mologies they  severally  repose;  so  too,  as  often  as  you  sus- 
pect the  existence  of  homonyms,  to  make  proof  of  the  matter 
for  yourselves,  gradually  forming  as  complete  a  list  of  these 
as  you  can.^^^  You  may  usefully  do  the  same  in  any  other 
language  which  you  study,  for  they  exist  in  all.  In  them 
the  identity  is  merely  on  the  surface  and  in  sound,  and  it 
would,  of  course,  be  lost  labour  to  seek  for  a  point  of  con- 
tact between  meanings  which  have  no  closer  connexion  with 
one  another  in  reality  than  they  have  in  appearance. 

Let  me  suggest  some  further  exercises  in  this  region  of 
words.  There  are  some  which  at  once  provoke  and  promise 
to  reward  inquiry,  by  the  evident  readiness  with  which  they 
will  yield  up  the  secret,  if  duly  interrogated  by  us.  Many, 
as  we  have  seen,  have  defied,  and  will  probably  defy  to  the 
end,  all  efforts  to  dissipate  the  mystery  which  hangs  over 
them;  and  these  we  must  be  content  to  leave;  but  many  an- 
nounce that  their  explanations  cannot  be  very  far  to  seek. 
Let  me  instance  *  candidate.'     Does  it  not  argue  an  incuri- 

207 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

ous  spirit  to  be  content  that  this  word  should  be  given  and 
received  by  us  a  hundred  times,  as  at  a  contested  election 
it  is,  and  we  never  ask  ourselves,  What  does  it  mean?  why 
is  one  offering  himself  to  the  choice  of  his  fellows  called 
a  'candidate'?  If  the  word  lay  evidently  beyond  our 
horizon,  we  might  acquiesce  in  our  ignorance;  but  resting, 
as  manifestly  it  does,  upon  the  Latin  '  candidus,'  it  chal- 
lenges inquiry,  and  a  very  little  of  this  would  at  once  put 
us  in  possession  of  the  Roman  custom  for  which  it  witnesses 
— namely,  that  such  as  intended  to  claim  the  suffrages  of 
the  people  for  any  of  the  chief  offices  of  the  State,  pre- 
sented themselves  beforehand  to  them  in  a  white  toga,  be- 
ing therefore  called  '  candidati.'  And  as  it  so  often  happens 
that  in  seeking  information  upon  one  subject  we  obtain  it 
upon  another,  so  will  it  probably  be  here;  for  in  fully 
learning  what  this  custom  was,  you  will  hardly  fail  to  learn 
how  we  obtained  *  ambition,'  what  originally  it  meant,  and 
how  Milton  should  have  written — 

'  To  reign  is  worth  ambition,  though  in  hell.' 

Or  again,  any  one  who  knows  so  much  as  that  '  verbum  * 
means  a  word,  might  well  be  struck  by  the  fact  (and  if 
he  followed  it  up  would  be  led  far  into  the  relation  of  the 
parts  of  speech  to  one  another),  that  in  grammar  it  is  not 
employed  to  signify  any  word  whatsoever,  but  is  restricted 
to  the  verb  alone ;  '  verbum  '  is  the  verb.  Surely  here  is 
matter  for  reflection.  What  gives  to  the  verb  the  right  to 
monopolize  the  dignity  of  being  *  the  word  '  ?  Is  it  because 
the  verb  is  the  animating  power,  the  vital  principle  of  every 
sentence,  and  that  without  which  understood  or  uttered,  no 
sentence  can  exist?  or  can  you  offer  any  other  reason?  I 
leave  this  to  your  own  consideration. 

We  call  certain  books  '  classics.'  We  have  indeed  a  dou- 
ble use  of  the  word,  for  we  speak  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 

208 


SCHOOLMASTER   S    USE    OF    WORDS 

as  the  '  classical '  languages,  and  the  great  writers  in  these 
as  '  the  classics  ' ;  while  at  other  times  you  hear  of  a  *  class- 
ical '  English  style,  or  of  English  '  classics.'  Now  *  classic  ' 
is  connected  plainly  with  '  classis.'  What  then  does  it  mean 
in  itself,  and  how  has  it  arrived  at  this  double  use  ?  '  The 
term  is  drawn  from  the  political  economy  of  Rome.  Such 
a  man  was  rated  as  to  his  income  in  the  third  class,  such 
another  in  the  fourth,  and  so  on;  but  he  who  was  in  the 
highest  was  emphatically  said  to  be  of  the  class,  "  classicus  " 
— a  class  man,  without  adding  the  number,  as  in  that  case 
superfluous ;  while  all  others  were  "  infra  classem."  Hence, 
by  an  obvious  analogy,  the  best  authors  were  rated  as 
"  classici,"  or  men  of  the  highest  class;  just  as  in  English 
we  say  "  men  of  rank  "  absolutely,  for  men  who  are  in  the 
highest  ranks  of  the  state.'  The  mental  process  by  which 
this  title,  which  would  apply  rightly  to  the  best  authors  in 
all  languages,  came  to  be  restricted  to  those  only  in  two, 
and  these  two  to  be  claimed,  to  the  seeming  exclusion  of  all 
others,  as  the  classical  languages,  is  one  constantly  recur- 
ring, making  itself  felt  in  all  regions  of  human  thought; 
to  which  therefore  I  would  in  passing  call  your  attention, 
though  I  cannot  now  do  more. 

There  is  one  circumstance  which  you  must  by  no  means 
suffer  to  escape  your  own  notice,  nor  that  of  your  pupils — 
namely,  that  words  out  of  number,  which  are  now  employed 
only  in  a  figurative  sense,  did  yet  originally  rest  on  some 
fact  of  the  outward  world,  vividly  presenting  itself  to  the 
imagination ;  which  fact  the  word  has  incorporated  and  knit 
up  with  itself  for  ever.  If  I  may  judge  from  my  own 
experience,  few  intelligent  boys  would  not  feel  that  they 
had  gained  something,  when  made  to  understand  that  '  to 
insult '  means  properly  to  leap  as  on  the  prostrate  body  of 
a  foe ;  *  to  affront,'  to  strike  him  on  the  face ;  that  '  to  suc- 
cour '  means  by  running  to  place  oneself  under  one  that  is 

209 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

falling;  'to  relent/  (connected  with  '  lentus/)  to  slacken 
the  swiftness  of  one's  pursuit ;  ^^®  *  to  reprehend/  to  lay  hold 
of  one  with  the  intention  of  forcibly  pulling  him  back; 
'  to  exonerate/  to  discharge  of  a  burden,  ships  being  exon- 
erated once ;  that  '  to  be  examined  '  means  to  be  weighed. 
They  would  be  pleased  to  learn  that  a  man  is  called  '  super- 
cilious/ because  haughtiness  with  contempt  of  others  ex- 
presses itself  by  the  raising  of  the  eyebrows  or  '  supercil- 
ium';  that  'subtle'  (subtilis,  connected  with  texere)  is 
literally  '  fine-spun  ';  that  '  crucial '  (from  crux)  implies  an 
*  instance  '  which  points  the  way  to  an  enquirer  like  a  sign- 
post ;  ^^^  that  a  '  companion  '  is  one  with  whom  we  share 
our  bread,  a  messmate ;  that  a  '  sarcasm  '  is  properly  such 
a  lash  inflicted  by  the  '  scourge  of  the  tongue  '  as  brings 
away  the  flesh  after  it;  with  much  more  in  the  same 
kind. 

*  Trivial '  is  a  word  borrowed  from  the  life,  Mark  three 
or  four  persons  standing  idly  at  the  point  where  one  street 
bisects  at  right  angles  another,  and  discussing  there  the  idle 
nothings  of  the  day;  there  you  have  the  living  explanation 
of  '  trivial/  '  trivialities,'  such  as  no  explanation  not  rooting 
itself  in  the  etymology  would  ever  give  you,  or  enable  you 
to  give  to  others.  You  have  there  the  '  tres  viae,'  the 
'  trivium  ' ;  and  '  trivialities  '  properly  mean  such  talk  as 
is  holden  by  those  idle  loiterers  that  gather  at  this 
meeting  of  three  roads. ^^^  *  Rivals  '  properly  are  those 
who  dwell  on  the  banks  of  the  same  river.  But  as  all  experi- 
ence shows,  there  is  no  such  fruitful  source  of  contention  as 
a  water-right,  and  these  would  be  often  at  strife  with  one 
another  in  regard  of  the  periods  during  which  they  sever- 
ally had  a  right  to  the  use  of  the  stream,  turning  it  off  into 
their  own  fields  before  the  time,  or  leaving  open  the  sluices 
beyond  the  time,  or  in  other  ways  interfering,  or  being 
counted  to  interfere,  with  the  rights  of  their  neighbours. 

210 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

And  in  this  way  *  rivals  '  came  to  be  applied  to  any  who 
were  on  any  grounds  in  unfriendly  competition  with  one 
another. 

By  such  teaching  as  this  you  may  often  improve,  and 
that  without  turning  play-time  into  lesson-time,  the  hours 
of  relaxation  and  amusement.  But  *  relaxation/  on  which 
we  have  just  lighted  as  by  chance,  must  not  escape  us. 
How  can  the  bow  be  '  relaxed  '  or  slackened  (for  this  is  the 
image),  which  has  not  been  bent,  whose  string  has  never 
been  drawn  tight?  Having  drawn  tight  the  bow  of  our 
mind  by  earnest  toil,  we  may  then  claim  to  have  it  from  time 
to  time  *  relaxed.'  Having  been  attentive  and  assiduous 
then,  but  not  otherwise,  we  may  claim  '  relaxation '  and 
amusement.  But  '  attentive  '  and  '  assiduous  '  are  them- 
selves words  which  will  repay  us  to  understand  exactly  what 
they  mean.  He  is  '  assiduous  '  who  sits  close  to  his  work ; 
he  is  '  attentive,'  who,  being  taught,  stretches  out  his  neck 
that  so  he  may  not  lose  a  word.  '  Diligence  '  too  has  its 
lesson.  Derived  from  '  diligo,'  to  love,  it  reminds  us  that 
the  secret  of  true  industry  in  our  work  is  love  of  that  work. 
And  as  truth  is  wrapped  up  in  *  diligence,'  what  a  lie,  on 
the  other  hand,  lurks  in  '  indolence,'  or,  to  speak  more  accu- 
rately, in  our  present  employment  of  it !  This,  from  '  in  ' 
and  *  doleo/  not  to  grieve,  is  properly  a  state  in  which  we 
have  no  grief  or  pain;  and  employed  as  we  now  employ  it, 
suggests  to  us  that  indulgence  in  sloth  constitutes  for  us 
the  truest  negation  of  pain.  Now  no  one  would  wish  to 
deny  that  '  pain  '  and  '  pains  '  are  often  nearly  allied ;  but 
yet  these  pains  hand  us  over  to  true  pleasures;  while  indo- 
lence is  so  far  from  yielding  that  good  which  it  is  so  for- 
ward to  promise,  that  Cowper  spoke  only  truth,  when, 
perhaps  meaning  to  witness  against  the  falsehood  I  have 
just  denounced,  he  spoke  of 

'  Lives  spent  in  indolence,  and  therefore  sad/ 
211 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

not  '  therefore  glad/  as  the  word  '  indolence  '  would  fain 
have  us  to  believe. 

There  is  another  way  in  which  these  studies  I  have  been 
urging  may  be  turned  to  account.  Doubtless  you  will  seek 
to  cherish  in  your  scholars,  to  keep  lively  in  yourselves,  that 
spirit  and  temper  which  find  a  special  interest  in  all  relat- 
ing to  the  land  of  our  birth,  that  land  which  the  providence 
of  God  has  assigned  as  the  sphere  of  our  life's  task  and  of 
theirs.  Our  schools  are  called  '  national/  ^^^  and  if  we 
would  have  them  such  in  reality,  we  must  neglect  nothing 
that  will  foster  a  national  spirit  in  them.  I  know  not 
whether  this  is  sufficiently  considered  among  us;  yet  cer- 
tainly we  cannot  have  Church-schools  worthy  the  name, 
least  of  all  in  England,  unless  they  are  truly  national  as 
well.  It  is  the  anti-national  character  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic system  which  perhaps  more  than  all  else  offends  Eng- 
lishmen; and  if  their  sense  of  this  should  ever  grow  weak, 
their  protest  against  that  system  would  soon  lose  much  of 
its  energy  and  strength.  But  here,  as  everywhere  else, 
knowledge  must  be  the  food  of  love.  Your  pupils  must 
know  something  about  England,  if  they  are  to  love  it;  they 
must  see  some  connexion  of  its  past  with  its  present,  of 
what  it  has  been  with  what  it  is,  if  they  are  to  feel  that 
past  as  anything  to  them. 

And  as  no  impresses  of  the  past  are  so  abiding,  so  none, 
when  once  attention  has  been  awakened  to  them,  are  so  self- 
evident  as  those  which  names  preserve;  although,  without 
this  calling  of  the  attention  to  them,  the  most  broad  and 
obvious  of  these  foot-prints  which  the  past  time  has  left 
may  continue  to  escape  our  observation  to  the  end  of  our 
lives.  Leibnitz  tells  us,  and  one  can  quite  understand,  the 
delight  with  which  a  great  German  Emperor,  Maximilian 
I.,  discovered  that  *  Habsburg,'  or  '  Hapsburg,'  the  ances- 
tral name  of  his  house,  really  had  a  meaning,  one  more- 

212 


SCHOOLMASTER  S    USE    OF    WORDS 

over  full  of  vigour  and  poetry.  This  he  did,  when  he  heard 
it  by  accident  on  the  lips  of  a  Swiss  peasant,  no  longer  cut 
short  and  thus  disguised,  but  in  its  original  fulness, 
*  Habichtsburg,'  or  *  Hawk's-Tower,'  being  no  doubt  the 
name  of  the  castle  which  was  the  cradle  of  his  race.^^^  Of 
all  the  thousands  of  Englishmen  who  are  aware  that  Angles 
and  Saxons  established  themselves  in  this  island,  and  that 
we  are  in  the  main  descended  from  them,  it  would  be  curi- 
ous to  know  how  many  have  realized  to  themselves  a  fact 
so  obvious  as  that  this  '  England  '  means  *  Angle-land,'  or 
that  in  the  names  *  Essex,'  '  Sussex,'  and  *  Middlesex,'  we 
preserve  a  record  of  East  Saxons,  South  Saxons,  and  Middle 
Saxons,  who  occupied  those  several  portions  of  the  land;  or 
that  *  Norfolk  '  and  '  Suffolk  '  are  two  broad  divisions  of 
'  northern  '  and  '  southern  folk,'  into  which  the  East  Ang- 
lian kingdom  was  divided.  '  Cornwall '  does  not  bear  its 
origin  quite  so  plainly  upon  its  front,  or  tell  its  story  so 
that  every  one  who  runs  may  read.  At  the  same  time  its 
secret  is  not  hard  to  attain  to.  As  the  Teutonic  immigrants 
advanced,  such  of  the  British  population  as  were  not  either 
destroyed  or  absorbed  by  them  retreated,  as  we  all  have 
learned,  into  Wales  and  Cornwall,  that  is,  till  they  could 
retreat  no  further.  The  fact  is  evidently  preserved  in  the 
name  of  '  Wales,'  which  means  properly  '  The  foreigners,' 
— the  nations  of  Teutonic  blood  calling  all  bordering  tribes 
by  this  name.  But  though  not  quite  so  apparent  on  the 
surface,  this  fact  is  also  preserved  in  '  Cornwall,'  written 
formerly  *  Cornwales,'  or  the  land  inhabited  by  the  Welsh 
of  the  Corn  or  Horn.  The  chroniclers  uniformly  speak  of 
North  Wales  and  Corn- Wales.  These  Angles,  Saxons,  and 
Britons  or  Welshmen,  about  whom  our  pupils  may  be  read- 
ing, will  be  to  them  more  like  actual  men  of  flesh  and  blood, 
who  indeed  trod  this  same  soil  which  we  are  treading  now, 
when  we  can  thus  point  to  traces  surviving  to  the  present 

218- 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

day,  which  they  have  left  behind  them,  and  which  England, 
as  long  as  it  is  England,  will  retain. 

The  Danes  too  have  left  their  marks  on  the  land.  We 
all  probably,  more  or  less,  are  aware  how  much  Danish 
blood  runs  in  English  veins ;  what  large  colonies  from  Scan- 
dinavia (for  as  many  may  have  come  from  Norway  as  from 
modern  Denmark)  settled  in  some  parts  of  this  island. 
It  will  be  interesting  to  show  that  the  limits  of  this  Danish 
settlement  and  occupation  may  even  now  be  confidently 
traced  by  the  constant  recurrence  in  all  such  districts  of  the 
names  of  towns  and  villages  ending  in  '  by,'  which  signified 
in  their  language  a  dwelling  or  single  village;  as  Netherb^, 
Appleby,  Derby,  Whitby,  Rugby.  Thus  if  you  examine 
closely  a  map  of  Lincolnshire,  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  the 
Danish  settlement,  j^ou  will  find  one  hundred,  or  well  nigh 
a  fourth  part,  of  the  towns  and  villages  to  have  this  ending, 
the  whole  coast  being  studded  with  them — they  lie  nearly 
as  close  to  one  another  as  in  Sleswick  itself;  -^^  while  here 
in  Hampshire  '  by,'  as  such  a  termination,  is  utterly  un- 
known. Or  again,  draw  a  line  transversely  through  Eng- 
land from  Canterbury  by  London  to  Chester,  the  line,  that 
is,  of  the  great  Roman  road,  called  Watling  Street,  and 
north  of  this  six  hundred  instances  of  the  occurrence  of  the 
same  termination  may  be  found,  while  to  the  south  there 
are  almost  none.  '  Thorpe,'  equivalent  to  the  German 
'  Dorf,'  as  a  Bishopsthorpe,  Althorp,  tells  the  same  tale  of  a 
Norse  occupation  of  the  soil;  and  the  terminations,  some- 
what rarer,  of  '  thwaite,'  '  haugh,'  '  garth,'  '  ness,'  do  the 
same  no  less.  On  the  other  hand,  where,  as  in  this  south 
of  England,  the  *  hams  '  abound  (the  word  is  identical  with 
our  *  home  '),  as  Buckingha?)!,  'Egham,  Shoreham,  there  you 
may  be  sure  that  not  Norsemen  but  West  Germans  took 
possession  of  the  soil.  '  Worth,'  or  '  worthy,'  tells  the  same 
story,   as   Bostvorth,  Kingstvorthy;  "^"^  the  '  stokes  '  in  like 

214 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE     OF    WORDS 

manner^  as  Basingstoke,  Itchenstoke,  are  Saxon,  being  (as 
some  suppose)  places  stockaded,  with  stocks  or  piles  for 
defence. 

You  are  yourselves  learning,  or  hereafter  you  may  be 
teaching  others,  the  names  and  number  of  the  English 
counties  or  shires.  What  a  dull  routine  task  for  them  and 
for  you  this  may  be,  supplying  no  food  for  the  intellect, 
no  points  of  attachment  for  any  of  its  higher  powers  to 
take  hold  of !  And  yet  in  these  two  little  words,  '  shire  ' 
and  '  county,'  if  you  would  make  them  rejider  up  even  a 
small  part  of  their  treasure,  what  lessons  of  English  his- 
tory are  contained!  One  who  knows  the  origin  of  these 
names,  and  how  we  come  to  possess  such  a  double  nomencla- 
ture, looks  far  into  the  social  condition  of  England  in  that 
period  when  the  strong  foundations  of  all  that  has  since 
made  England  glorious  and  great  were  being  laid;  by  aid 
of  these  words  may  detect  links  which  bind  its  present  to 
its  remotest  past ;  for  of  lands  as  of  persons  it  may  be  said, 
'  the  child  is  father  of  the  man.'  *  Shire  '  is  connected  with 
'  shear,'  '  share,'  and  is  properly  a  portion  *  shered '  or 
'  shorn  '  off.  When  a  Saxon  king  would  create  an  earl,  it 
did  not  lie  in  men's  thoughts,  accustomed  as  they  were  to 
deal  with  realities,  that  such  could  be  a  merely  titular  cre- 
ation, or  exist  without  territorial  jurisdiction;  and  a  '  share  ' 
or  '  shire  '  was  assigned  him  to  govern,  which  also  gave  him 
his  title.  But  at  the  Conquest  this  Saxon  officer  was  dis- 
placed by  a  Norman,  the  '  earl '  by  the  '  count ' — this  title 
of  '  count,'  borrowed  from  the  later  Roman  empire,  mean- 
ing originally  '  companion '  (comes),  one  who  had  the 
honour  of  being  closest  companion  to  his  leader;  and  the 
*  shire  '  was  now  the  *  county  '  (comitatus),  as  governed  by 
this  '  comes.'  In  that  singular  and  inexplicable  fortune  of 
words,  which  causes  some  to  disappear  and  die  out  under 
the    circumstances    apparently    most    favourable    for    life, 

215 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

others  to  liold  their  ground  when  all  seemed  against  them, 
*  count '  has  disappeared  from  the  titles  of  English  nobility, 
while  '  earl '  has  recovered  its  place ;  although  in  evidence 
of  the  essential  identity  of  the  two  titles,  or  offices  rather, 
the  wife  of  the  earl  is  entitled  a  '  countess  ' ;  and  in  further 
memorial  of  these  great  changes  that  so  long  ago  came  over 
our  land,  the  two  names  *  shire  '  and  '  county  '  equally  sur- 
vive as  in  the  main  interchangeable  words  in  our  mouths. 

A  large  part  of  England,  all  that  portion  of  it  which 
the  Saxons  ocoupied,  is  divided  into  '  hundreds.'  Have 
you  ever  asked  yourselves  what  this  division  means,  for 
something  it  must  mean.  The  *  hundred  '  is  supposed  to 
have  been  originally  a  group  or  settlement  of  one  hundred 
free  families  of  Saxon  incomers.  If  this  was  so,  we  have 
at  once  an  explanation  of  the  strange  disproportion  be- 
tween the  area  of  the  '  hundred  '  in  the  southern  and  in 
the  more  northern  counties — the  average  number  of  square 
miles  in  a  *  hundred  '  of  Sussex  or  Kent  being  about  four 
and  twenty;  of  Lancashire  more  than  three  hundred.  The 
Saxon  population  would  naturally  be  far  the  densest  in 
the  earlier  settlements  of  the  east  and  south,  while  more  to 
west  and  north  their  tenure  would  be  one  rather  of  conquest 
than  of  colonization,  and  the  free  families  much  fewer  and 
more  scattered.-^^  But  further  you  have  noticed,  I  dare 
say,  the  exceptional  fact  that  the  county  of  Sussex,  besides 
the  division  into  hundreds,  is  divided  also  into  six  '  rapes  ' ; 
thus  the  '  rape  '  of  Bramber  and  so  on. 

Let  us  a  little  consider,  in  conclusion,  how  we  may  use- 
fully bring  our  etymologies  and  other  notices  of  words  to 
bear  on  the  religious  teaching  which  we  would  impart  in 
our  schools.  To  do  this  with  much  profit  we  must  often 
deal  with  words  as  the  Queen  does  with  the  gold  and  silver 
coin  of  the  realm.  When  this  has  been  current  long,  and 
by  often  passing  from  man  to  man,  with  perhaps  occasional 

216 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

clipping  in  dishonest  hands,  has  lost  not  only  the  clear 
brightness,  the  well-defined  sharpness  of  outline,  but  much 
of  the  weight  and  intrinsic  value  which  it  had  when  first 
issued  from  the  royal  mint,  it  is  the  sovereign's  prerogative 
to  recall  it,  and  issue  it  anew,  with  the  royal  image  stamped 
on  it  afresh,  bright  and  sharp,  weighty  and  full,  as  at  first. 
Now  to  a  process  such  as  this  the  true  mint-masters  of 
language,  and  all  of  us  may  be  such,  will  often  submit 
the  words  which  they  use.  Where  use  and  custom  have 
worn  away  their  significance,  we  too  may  recall  and  issue 
them  afresh.  With  how  many  it  has  thus  fared ! — for  ex- 
ample, with  one  which  will  be  often  in  your  mouths.  You 
speak  of  the  '  lessons  '  of  the  day ;  but  what  is  *  lessons  * 
here  for  most  of  us  save  a  lazy  synonym  for  the  morning 
and  evening  chapters  appointed  to  be  read  in  church  ?  But 
realize  what  the  Church  intended  in  calling  these  chapters 
by  this  name ;  namely,  that  they  should  be  the  daily  instruc- 
tion of  her  children;  listen  to  them  yourselves  as  such;  lead 
your  scholars  to  regard  them  as  such,  and  in  this  use  of 
*  lessons  '  what  a  lesson  for  every  one  of  us  there  may  be ! 
'  Bible  '  itself,  while  we  not  irreverently  use  it,  may  yet 
be  no  more  to  us  than  the  verbal  sign  by  which  we  designate 
the  written  Word  of  God.  Keep  in  mind  that  it  properly 
means  '  the  book '  and  nothing  more ;  that  once  it  could  be 
employed  of  any  book  (in  Chaucer  it  is  so),^^^  and  what 
matter  of  thought  and  reflection  lies  in  this  our  present 
restriction  of  '  bible  '  to  one  book,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others !  So  strong  has  been  the  sense  of  Holy  Scripture 
being  '  the  Book,'  the  worthiest  and  best,  that  book  which 
explains  all  other  books,  standing  up  in  their  midst, — like 
Joseph's  kingly  sheaf,  to  which  all  the  other  sheaves  did 
obeisance, — that  this  name  of  '  Bible  '  or  *  Book  '  has  been 
restrained  to  it  alone:  just  as  *  Scripture'  means  no  more 
than  '  writing  ' ;  but  this  inspired  Writing  has  been  acknowl- 

217 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

edged  so  far  above  all  other  writings,  that  this  name  also 
it  has  obtained  as  exclusively  its  own. 

Again,  something  may  be  learned  from  knowing  that  the 
*  surname/  as  distinguished  from  the  '  Christian  '  name,  is 
the  name  over  and  above,  not  '  sire  '-name,  or  name  received 
from  the  father,  as  some  explain,  but  '  sur  '-name  (super 
nomen).  There  was  never,  that  is,  a  time  when  every  bap- 
tized man  had  not  a  Christian  name,  the  recognition  of  his 
personal  standing  before  God ;  while  the  surname,  the  name 
expressing  his  relation,  not  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  to 
a  wordly  society,  is  of  much  later  growth,  superadded  to 
the  other,  as  the  word  itself  declares.  What  a  lesson  at  once 
in  the  growing  up  of  a  human  society,  and  in  the  contrast 
between  it  and  the  heavenly  Society  of  the  Church,  might 
be  appended  to  this  explanation !  There  was  a  period  when 
only  a  few  had  surnames;  had,  that  is,  any  significance 
in  the  order  of  things  temporal;  while  the  Christian  name 
from  the  first  was  the  possession  of  every  baptized  man. 
All  this  might  be  brought  usefully  to  bear  on  your  exposi- 
tion of  the  first  words  in  the  Catechism. 

There  are  long  words  from  the  Latin  which,  desire  as 
we  may  to  use  all  plainness  of  speech,  we  cannot  do  without, 
nor  find  their  adequate  substitutes  in  homelier  parts  of  our 
language;  words  which  must  always  remain  the  vehicles  of 
much  of  that  truth  whereby  we  live.  Now  in  explaining 
these,  make  it  your  rule  always  to  start,  where  you  can, 
from  the  derivation,  and  to  return  to  that  as  often  as  you 
can.  Thus  you  wish  to  explain  *  revelation.'  How  much 
will  be  gained  if  you  can  attach  some  distinct  image  to 
the  word,  one  to  which  your  scholars,  as  often  as  they  hear 
it,  may  mentally  recur.  Nor  is  this  difficult.  God's  '  reve- 
lation '  of  Himself  is  a  drawing  back  of  the  veil  or  curtain 
which  concealed  Him  from  men;  not  man  finding  out  God, 
but  God  discovering  Himself  to  man;  all  which  is  contained 

218 


SCHOOLMASTER'S    USE    OF    WORDS 

in  the  word.  Or  you  wish  to  explain  '  absolution.'  Many- 
will  know  that  it  has  something  to  do  with  the  pardon  of 
sins;  but  how  much  more  accurately  will  they  know  this, 
when  they  know  that  *  to  absolve  '  means  *  to  loosen  from  ' ; 
God's  '  absolution  '  of  men  being  His  releasing  of  them  from 
the  bands  of  those  sins  with  which  they  were  bound.  Here 
every  one  will  connect  a  distinct  image  with  the  word,  such 
as  will  always  come  to  his  help  when  he  would  realize  what 
its  precise  meaning  may  be.  That  which  was  done  for  Laz- 
arus naturally,  the  Lord  exclaiming,  *  Loose  him,  and  let 
him  go,'  the  same  is  done  spiritually  for  us,  when  we  receive 
the  *  absolution  '  of  our  sins. 

Tell  your  scholars  that  '  atonement '  means  *  at-one-ment ' 
— the  setting  at  one  of  those  who  were  at  twain  before, 
namely  God  and  man,  and  they  will  attach  to  *  atonement ' 
a  definite  meaning,  which  perhaps  in  no  way  else  it  would 
have  possessed  for  them;  and,  starting  from  this  point, 
you  may  muster  the  passages  in  Scripture  which  describe 
the  sinner's  state  as  one  of  separation,  estrangement,  alien- 
ation, from  God,  the  Christian's  state  as  one  in  which  he 
walks  together  with  God,  because  the  two  have  been  set 
'  at  one.'  Or  you  have  to  deal  with  the  following,  *  to 
redeem,'  *  Redeemer,'  *  redemption.'  Lose  not  yourselves 
in  vague  generalities,  but  fasten  on  the  central  point  of 
these,  that  they  imply  a  *  buying,'  and  not  this  merely, 
but  a  *  buying  back  ' ;  and  then  connect  with  them,  so  ex- 
plained, the  whole  circle  of  statements  in  Scripture  which 
rest  on  this  image,  which  speak  of  sin  as  a  slavery,  of 
sinners  as  bondsmen  of  Satan,  of  Christ's  blood  as  a  ransom, 
of  the  Christian  as  one  restored  to  his  liberty. 

Many  words  more  suggest  themselves;  I  will  not  urge 
more  than  one;  but  that  one,  because  in  it  is  a  lesson  more 
for  ourselves  than  for  others,  and  with  such  I  would  fain 
bring  these  lectures  to  a  close.     How  solemn  a  truth  we  ex- 

219 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

press  when  we  name  our  work  in  this  world  our  '  vocation/ 
or,  which  is  the  same  in  homelier  Anglo-Saxon,  our  *  calling.' 
What  a  calming,  elevating,  ennobling  view  of  the  tasks  ap- 
pointed us  in  this  world,  this  word  gives  us.  We  did  not  come 
to  our  work  by  accident;  we  did  not  choose  it  for  ourselves; 
but,  in  the  midst  of  much  which  may  wear  the  appearance 
of  accident  and  self -choosing,  came  to  it  by  God's  leading 
and  appointment.  How  will  this  consideration  help  us  to 
appreciate  justly  the  dignity  of  our  work,  though  it  were 
far  humbler  work,  even  in  the  eyes  of  men,  than  that  of  any 
one  of  us  here  present !  What  an  assistance  in  calming 
unsettled  thoughts  and  desires,  such  as  would  make  us  wish 
to  be  something  else  than  that  which  we  are !  What  a  source 
of  confidence,  when  we  are  tempted  to  lose  heart,  and  to 
doubt  whether  we  shall  carry  through  our  work  with  any 
blessing  or  profit  to  ourselves  or  to  others !  It  is  our 
*  vocation,'  not  our  choosing,  but  our  '  calling  ' ;  and  He  who 
'  called  '  us  to  it,  will,  if  only  we  will  ask  Him,  fit  us  for  it, 
and  strengthen  us  in  it. 


220 


PREFACE 
TO   THE   FIRST   EDITION 

These  lectures  will  not^  I  trust,  be  found  anywhere  to 
have  left  out  of  sight  seriously,  or  for  long,  the  peculiar 
needs  of  those  for  whom  they  were  originally  intended,  and 
to  whom  they  were  primarily  addressed.  I  am  conscious, 
indeed,  here  and  there,  of  a  certain  departure  from  my  first 
intention,  having  been  in  part  seduced  to  this  by  a  circum- 
stance which  I  had  not  in  the  least  contemplated  when  I 
obtained  permission  to  deliver  them,  by  finding,  namely, 
that  I  should  have  other  hearers  besides  the  pupils  of  the 
Training-School.  Some  matter  adapted  for  those  rather 
than  for  these  I  was  thus  led  to  introduce — which  after- 
wards I  was  unwilling,  in  preparing  for  the  press,  to 
remove;  on  the  contrary  adding  to  it  rather,  in  the  hope 
of  obtaining  thus  a  somewhat  wider  circle  of  readers  than  I 
could  have  hoped,  had  I  more  rigidly  restricted  myself  in 
the  choice  of  my  materials.  Yet  I  should  greatly  regret 
to  have  admitted  so  much  of  this  as  should  deprive  these 
lectures  of  their  fitness  for  those  whose  profit  in  writing  and 
in  publishing  I  had  mainly  in  view,  namely,  schoolmasters, 
and  those  preparing  to  be  such. 

Had  I  known  any  book  entering  with  any  fulness,  and  in 
a  popular  manner,  into  the  subject-matter  of  these  pages, 
and  making  it  its  exclusive  theme,  I  might  still  have  deliv- 
ered these  lectures,  but  should  scarcely  have  sought  for 
them  a  wider  audience  than  their  first,  gladly  leaving  the 
matter  in  their  hands,  whose  studies  in  language  had  been 
fuller  and  riper  than  my  own.  But  abundant  and  ready 
to  hand  as  are  the  materials  fo^  such  a  book,  I  did  not; 
while  yet  it  seems  to  me  that  the  subject  is  one  to  which  it 

221 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

is  beyond  measure  desirable  that  their  attention^  who  are 
teaching,  or  shall  have  hereafter  to  teach,  others  should 
be  directed;  so  that  they  shall  learn  to  regard  language 
as  one  of  the  chiefest  organs  of  their  own  education  and 
that  of  others.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  I  liave  used  no  ex- 
aggeration in  saying,,that  '  for  man}^  a  young  man  his  first 
discovery  that  words  are  living  powers,  has  been  like  the 
dropping  of  scales  from  his  eyes,  like  the  acquiring  of 
another  sense,  or  the  introduction  into  a  new  world,' — while 
yet  all  this  may  be  indefinitely  deferred,  may,  indeed,  never 
find  place  at  all,  unless  there  is  some  one  at  hand  to  help 
for  him,  and  to  hasten  the  process;  and  he  who  so  does, 
will  ever  after  be  esteemed  by  him  as  one  of  his  very  fore- 
most benefactors.  Whatever  may  be  Home  Tooke's  short- 
comings (and  they  are  great),  whether  in  details  of  etymol- 
ogy, or  in  the  philosophy  of  grammar,  or  in  matters  more 
serious  still,  yet,  with  all  this,  what  an  epoch  in  many  a  stu- 
dent's intellectual  life  has  been  his  first  acquaintance  with 
The  Diversions  of  Purley.  And  they  were  not  among  the 
least  of  the  obligations  which  the  young  men  of  our  time 
owed  to  Coleridge,  that  he  so  often  himself  weighed  words 
in  the  balances,  and  so  earnestly  pressed  upon  all  with  whom 
his  voice  went  for  anything,  the  profit  which  they  would 
find  in  so  doing.  Nor,  with  the  certainty  that  I  am  antici- 
pating much  in  my  little  volume,  can  I  refrain  from  quoting 
some  words  which  were  not  present  with  me  during  its 
composition,  although  I  must  have  been  familiar  with  them 
long  ago;  words  which  express  excellently  well  why  it  is 
that  these  studies  profit  so  much,  and  which  will  also  explain 
the  motives  which  induced  me  to  add  my  little  contribution 
to  their  furtherance: 

'  A  language  will  often  be  wiser,  not  merely  than  the 
vulgar,  but  even  than  the  wisest  of  those  who  speak  it. 
Being  like  amber  in  its  efficacy  to  circulate  the  electric  spirit 

222 


PREFACE   TO   THE   FIRST    EDITION 

of  truth,  it  is  also  like  amber  in  embalming  and  preserving 
the  relics  of  ancient  wisdom,  although  one  is  not  seldom 
puzzled  to  decipher  its  contents.  Sometimes  it  locks  up 
truths,  which  were  once  well  known,  but  which,  in  the  course 
of  ages,  have  passed  out  of  sight  and  been  forgotten.  In 
other  cases  it  holds  the  germs  of  truths,  of  which,  though 
they  were  never  plainly  discerned,  the  genius  of  its  framers 
caught  a  glimpse  in  a  happy  moment  of  divination.  A 
meditative  man  cannot  refrain  from  wonder,  when  he  digs 
down  to  the  deep  thought  lying  at  the  root  of  many  a 
metaphorical  term,  employed  for  the  designation  of  spiritual 
things,  even  of  those  with  regard  to  which  professing  phi- 
losophers have  blundered  grossly;  and  often  it  would  seem 
as  though  rays  of  truth,  which  were  still  below  the  intel- 
lectual horizon,  had  dawned  upon  the  imagination  as  it  was 
looking  up  to  heaven.  Hence  they  who  feel  an  inward  call 
to  teach  and  enlighten  their  countrymen,  should  deem  it 
an  important  part  of  their  duty  to  draw  out  the  stores  of 
thought  which  are  already  latent  in  their  native  language, 
to  purify  it  from  the  corruptions  which  Time  brings  upon 
all  things,  and  from  which  language  has  no  exemption,  and 
to  endeavour  to  give  distinctness  and  precision  to  whatever 
in  it  is  confused,  or  obscure,  or  dimly  seen.' — Guesses  at 
Truth,  First  Series,  p.  295. 

Itchenstoke:  Oct.  9,  1851. 


SS3 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

*  It  is  well  worth  the  while  to  read  on  this  same  subject 
the  pleasant  causerie  of  Littre,  '  Comment  j'ai  fait  mon 
Dictionnaire.'  It  is  to  be  found  pp.  390-442  of  his 
Glanures. 

^  Sermon  xiv.  '  Upon  the  Love  of  God.'  Curiously- 
enough,  Montaigne  has,  in  his  Essays,  drawn  the  same  tes- 
timony out  of  the  word :  '  The  ordinary  phrase  of  Pass- 
time,  and  passing  away  the  time,  represents  the  custom  of 
those  wise  sort  of  people,  who  think  they  cannot  have  a 
better  account  of  their  lives,  than  to  let  them  run  out  and 
slide  away,  to  pass  them  over  and  to  baulk  them,  and  as 
much  as  they  can,  to  take  no  notice  of  them  and  to  shun 
them,  as  a  thing  of  troublesome  and  contemptible  quality. 
But  I  know  it  to  be  another  kind  of  thing,  and  find  it  both 
valuable  and  commodious  even  in  its  latest  decay,  wherein 
I  now  enjoy  it,  and  nature  has  delivered  it  into  our  hands 
in  swch  and  so  favorable  circumstances  that  we  commonly 
complain  of  ourselves,  if  it  be  troublesome  to  us  or  slide 
unprofitable  away.' 

^A  reviewer  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  Dec.  1851,  doubts 
whether  I  have  not  here  pushed  my  assertion  too  far.  So 
far  from  this,  it  was  not  merely  the  *  popular  language  ' 
which  this  corruption  had  invaded,  but  a  decree  of  the 
great  Fourth  Lateran  Council  (a.  d.  1215),  forbidding  the 
further  multiplication  of  monastic  Orders,  runs  thus:  Ne 
nimia  religionum  diversitas  gravem  in  Ecclesia  Dei  con- 
fusionem  inducat,  firmiter  prohibemus,  ne  quis  de  cetero 
novam  religionem  inveniat,  sed  quicunque  voluerit  ad  re- 
ligionem  converti,  unam  de  approbatis  assumat.  [Lest 
overmuch  diversity  of  religions  bring  dire  confusion  upon 
the  Church  of  God,  we  strongly  forbid  any  to  find  out 
more  a  new  religion,  but  whosoever  wisheth  to  be  joined 
to  a  religion,  let  him  take  one  of  those  now  approved.] 

224 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

*  *  Frank/  though  thus  originally  a  German  word^  only 
came  back  to  Germany  from  France  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  With  us  it  is  found  in  the  sixteenth;  but  scarcely 
earlier. 

^  Gibbon^  Decline  and  Fall,  c.  55. 

^  Renan  has  much  of  i«nterest  on  this  matter,  both  in  his 
work  De  VOrigine  du  Langage,  and  in  his  Hist,  des 
Langues  Semitiques.  I  quote  from  the  latter,  p.  445: 
'  Sans  doute  les  langues,  comme  tout  ce  qui  ect  organise, 
sont  sujettes  a  la  loi  du  developpement  graduel.  En  sou- 
tenant  que  le  langage  primitif  possedait  les  elements 
necessaires  a  son  integrite,  nous  sommes  loin  de  dire  que 
les  mecanismes  d'un  age  plus  avance  y  fussent  arrives  a 
leur  pleine  existence.  Tout  y  etait,  mais  confusement  et 
sans  distinction.  Le  temps  seul  et  les  progres  de  I'esprit 
humain  pouvaient  operer  un  discernement  dans  cette  ob- 
scure synthese,  et  assigner  a  chaque  element  son  role 
special.  La  vie,  en  un  mot,  n'etait  ici,  comme  partout, 
qu'a  la  condition  de  revolution  du  germe  primitif,  de  la 
distribution  des  roles  et  de  la  separation  des  organes.  Mais 
ces  organes  eux-memes  furent  determines  des  le  premier 
jour,  et  depuis  Facte  generateur  qui  le  fit  etre,  le  langage 
ne  s'est  enrichi  d'aucune  fonction  vraiment  nouvelle.  Un 
germe  est  pose,  renfermant  en  puissance  tout  ce  que  Fetre 
sera  un  jour;  le  germe  se  developpe,  les  formes  se  con- 
stituent dans  leurs  proportions  regulieres,  ce  qui  etait  en 
puissance  devient  en  acte;  mais  rien  ne  se  cree,  rien  ne 
s'ajoute:  telle  est  la  loi  commune  des  etres  soumis  aux 
conditions  de  la  vie.  Telle  fut  aussi  la  loi  du  langage.' 
[Doubtless  languages,  like  every  other  organized  thing, 
are  subject  to  the  law  of  gradual  development.  While  we 
hold  that  primitive  language  had  all  the  characteristics 
necessary  to  keep  it  intact,  we  do  not  mean  that  the  ma- 
chinery of  a  more  mature  period  was  fully  developed  in 
primitive  language.  It  did,  indeed,  contain  all  this,  but  in 
confusion  and  indistinctly.  Time  and  the  growth  of  man- 
kind were  the  only  things  that  could  bring  order  out  of 

225 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

this  chaotic  compound  and  give  each  part  its  proper  place. 
In  brief,  in  this  case,  as  in  all  others,  life  was  merely  the 
circumstance  in  the  development  of  the  primal  germ,  in 
the  allotment  of  proper  places  and  the  specialization  of 
organs.  But  these  very  vocal  organs  were  from  the  begin- 
ning determined,  and  language  has  not  been  the  richer  by 
one  really  new  function  from  the  time  it  was  called  into 
being.  A  germ  was  implanted  containing  potentially  all 
that  the  future  will  bring,  and  as  this  germ  unfolds,  the 
forms  of  language  take  on  their  normal  proportions  and 
what  was  potential  becomes  actual.  But  there  has  been 
neither  creation  nor  addition.  Such  is  the  general  law  of 
all  things  submitted  to  the  conditions  of  life,  and  such 
was  the  law  governing  language.] 

^  A  Wesleyan  missionary,  communicating  with  me  from 
Fiji,  assures  me  I  have  here  understated  the  case.  He 
says :  '  I  could  write  down  several  words,  which  express 
as  many  different  ways  of  killing  an  unborn  child.'  He 
has  at  the  same  time  done  me  the  favour  to  send  me  dread- 
ful confirmation  of  all  which  I  have  here  asserted.  It  is 
a  list  of  some  Fiji  words,  with  the  hideous  meanings  which 
they  bear,  or  facts  which  they  imply.  He  has  naturally 
confined  himself  to  those  in  one  domain  of  human  wicked- 
ness— that,  namely,  of  cruelty;  leaving  another  domain, 
which  borders  close  on  this,  and  which,  he  assures  me, 
would  yield  proofs  quite  as  terrible,  altogether  luitouched. 
It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  record  more  hideous  of 
what  the  works  of  the  arch-murderer  are,  or  one  more 
fitted  to  stir  up  missionary  zeal  in  behalf  of  those  dark 
places  of  the  earth  which  are  full  of  the  habitations  of 
cruelty.  A  very  few  specimens  must  suffice.  The  lan- 
guage of  Fiji  has  a  word  for  a  club  which  has  killed  a  man; 
for  a  dead  body  which  is  to  be  eaten;  for  the  first  of  such 
bodies  brought  in  at  the  beginning  of  a  war;  for  the  flesh 
on  each  side  of  the  backbone.  It  has  a  name  of  honour 
given  to  those  who  have  taken  life;  it  need  not  have  been 
the  life   of  an  enemy;  if  only  they   have  shed  blood — it 

226 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

may  have  been  the  life  of  a  woman  or  a  child — the  title 
has  been  earned.  It  has  an  hideous  word  to  express  the 
torturing  and  insulting  of  an  enemy,  as  by  cutting  off  any 
part  of  his  body — his  nose  or  tongue,  for  instance — roast- 
ing and  eating  it  before  his  face,  and  taunting  him  the 
while ;  the  aKpwTT/pta^etv  of  the  Greeks,  with  the  cannibalism 
added.     But  of  this  enough. 

®  See  on  this  matter  Tylor,  Early  History  of  Mankind, 
pp.  150-190;  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  On  Primeval  Man. 
Among  some  of  the  Papuans  the  faintest  rudiments  of 
the  family  survive;  of  the  tribe  no  trace  whatever;  while 
yet  of  these  one  has  lately  written :  *  Sie  haben  religiose 
Gebrauche  und  Uebungen,  welche,  mit  einigen  anderen 
Erscheinungen  in  ihrem  Leben,  mit  ihrem  jetzigen  Cul- 
turzustande  ganz  unvereinbar  erscheinen,  wenn  man  darin 
nicht  die  Spuren  einer  friiher  hohern  Bildung  erkennen 
will.'  [They  have  religious  customs  and  practices  which 
taken  with  some  other  facts  in  their  lives  seem  quite  in- 
consistent with  their  present  condition  of  civilization  unless 
these  be  recognized  as  the  remains  of  an  earlier  and  supe- 
rior culture.] 

®  Shedd,  History  of  Christian  Doctrine,  vol.  1,  p.  362; 
compare  Guesses  at  Truth,  1866,  p.  217;  and  Gerber, 
Sprache  als  Kunst,  vol.  1,  p.  145. 

^^  Mill,  System  of  Logic,  vol.  2,  p.  291. 

^^  On  the  Greek  language  and  its  merits,  as  compared 
with  the  other  Indo-European  languages,  see  Curtius,  His- 
tory of  Greece,  English  translation,  vol.  1,  pp.  18-28. 

^2  Gerber  (Sprache  als  Kunst,  vol.  1,  p.  274)  :  Es  ist  ein 
bedeutender  Fortschritt  in  der  Erkenntniss  des  Menschen 
dass  man  jetzt  Sprachen  lernt  nicht  bloss,  um  sich  den 
Gedankeninhalt,  den  sie  offenbaren,  anzueignen,  sondern 
zugleich  um  sie  selbst  als  herrliche,  architektonische  Geis- 
teswerke  kennen  zu  lernen,  und  sich  an  ihrer  Kunstschon- 
heit  zu  erfreuen.  [It  is  a  marked  advance  in  human 
knowledge  that  languages  are  no  longer  learned  merely  for 
the  sake  of  appropriating  the  thought  they  disclose  but  so 

227 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

as  to  know  them  as  splendid  architectonic  productions  and 
to  enjoy  their  artistic  beauties.] 

^^Ajax,  or  Ata?  in  the  play  of  Sophocles,  which  bears 
his  name,  does  the  same  with  the  atat  which  lies  in  that 
name  (422,  423);  just  as  in  the  Bacchoe  of  Euripides,  not 
Pentheus  himself,  but  others  for  him,  indicate  the  prophecy 
of  a  mighty  ttcV^os  or  grief,  which  is  shut  up  in  his  name. 
A  tragic  writer,  less  known  than  Euripides,  does  the  same 
TlevOiv^  icrofievrjs  (rvix<f>opa<s  iTnovvfxo'S.  [Pentheus,  his  name 
the  promise  of  ill  to  come  (ttcV^os,  penthos,  means  woe)]. 
Eteocles  in  the  Phoenissce  of  Euripides  makes  a  play  of 
the  same  kind  on  the  name  of  Polynices. 

^*  '  Hus  '  is  Bohemian  for  *  goose  ' ;  and  here  we  have 
the  explanation  of  the  prophetic  utterance  of  Hus,  namely, 
that  in  place  of  one  goose,  tame  and  weak  of  wing,  God 
would  send  falcons  and  eagles  before  long. 

^^  'EXcVas  |^=  cXevaos],  cXavSpo?,  cAeTrroXi?,  iEschylus, 
Agamemnon,  QSQ.  [Ship-destroyer,  man-destroyer,  city- 
destroyer.'] 

"^^  Catholic  Theology,  pt.  3,  p.  107. 

^^  A  few  more  examples,  in  a  note,  of  this  contumely  of 
names.  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  or  '  the  Illustrious,'  is  for 
the  Jews,  whom  he  so  madly  attempted  to  hellenize,  Anti- 
ochus Epimanes,  or  'the  Insane.'  Cicero,  denouncing  Verres, 
the  infamous  praetor  of  Sicily,  is  too  skilful  a  master  of 
the  passions  to  allow  the  name  of  the  arch-criminal  to 
escape  him.  He  was  indeed  Verres,  for  he  swept  the  prov- 
ince; he  was  a  sweep-net  for  it  (everriculum  in  provincia)  ; 
and  then  presently,  giving  altogether  another  turn  to  his 
name.  Others,  he  says,  might  be  partial  to  '  jus  verrinum  ' 
(which  might  mean  either  Verrine  law  or  boar-sauce), 
but  not  he.  Tiberius  Claudius  Nero,  charged  with  being 
a  drunkard,  becomes  in  the  popular  language  *  Biberius 
Caldius  Mero.'  The  controversies  of  the  Church  with 
heretics  yield  only  too  abundant  a  supply,  and  that  upon 
both  sides,  of  examples  in  this  kind.  The  '  royal-hearted  ' 
Athanasius  is   '  Satanasius  '   for  the  Arians ;  and  some  of 

228 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

S.  Cyprian's  adversaries  did  not  shrink  from  so  foul  a 
perversion  of  his  name  as  to  call  him  KoTrptavos,  or  '  the 
Dungy.'  But  then  how  often  is  Pelagius  declared  by  the 
Church  Fathers  to  be  a  pelagus,  a  very  ocean  of  wicked- 
ness. It  was  in  vain  that  the  Manichaeans  changed  their 
master's  name  from  Manes  to  ^lanichaeus,  that  so  it  might 
not  so  nearly  resemble  the  word  signifying  madness  in  the 
Greek  (devitantes  nomen  insaniae^  Augustine,  De  Hoer. 
46)  ;  it  did  not  thereby  escape.  The  Waldenses,  or  Wal- 
lenses,  were  declared  by  Roman  controversialists  to  be 
justly  so  called,  as  dwelling  *  in  valle  densa,'  in  the  thick 
valley  of  darkness  and  ignorance.  Cardinal  Clesel  was 
active  in  setting  forward  the  Roman  Catholic  reaction  in 
Bohemia  with  which  the  dismal  tragedy  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  began.  It  was  a  far-fetched  and  not  very 
happy  piece  of  revenge,  when  they  of  the  other  side  took 
pleasure  in  spelling  his  name  '  CLesel,'  as  much  as  to  say, 
He  of  the  150  ass-power.  Berengar  of  Tours  calls  a  Pope 
who  had  taken  sides  against  him  not  pontif  ex,  but  *  pompi- 
fex.'  Metrophanes,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  being 
counted  to  have  betrayed  the  interests  of  the  Greek  Church, 
his  spiritual  mother,  at  the  Council  of  Florence,  saw  his 
name  changed  by  popular  hate  into  *  Metrophonos,'  or  the 
*  Matricide.'  In  the  same  way  of  more  than  one  Pope 
Urbanus  it  was  declared  that  he  would  have  been  better 
named  '  Turbanus  '  (quasi  turbans  Ecclesiam).  Mahomet 
appears  as  '  Bafomet,'  influenced  perhaps  by  '  bafa,'  a  lie, 
in  Proven9al.  Shechem,  a  chief  city  of  the  heretical 
Samaritans,  becomes  '  Sychar,'  or  city  of  lies  (see  John  4: 
5),  so  at  least  some  will  have  it,  on  the  lips  of  the  hostile 
Jews;  while  Toulouse,  a  very  seedplot  of  heresies,  Albigen- 
sian  and  other,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  is  declared  by  writers 
of  those  times  to  have  prophesied  no  less  by  its  name 
(Tolosa  =  tota  dolosa).  In  the  same  way  adversaries  of 
Wiclif  traced  in  his  name  an  abridgement  of  *  wicked- 
belief.'  Metternich  was  '  Mitternacht,'  or  Midnight,  for 
the  political  reformers  of  Germany  in  the  last  generation. 

229 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

It  would  be  curious  to  know  how  often  the  Sorbonne  has 
been  likened  to  a  '  Serbonian  '  bog;  some  '  privilegium ' 
declared  to  be  not  such  indeed,  but  a  '  pravilegium  '  rather. 
Baxter  complains  that  the  Independents  called  presbyters 
'  priestbiters/  Presbyterian  ministers  not  '  divines  '  but 
'  dry  vines,'  and  their  Assembly  men  *  Dissembly  men.' 
^^  Thus  in  a  sublime  Latin  hymn  by  Adam  of  St.  Victor: 

Nomen  habes  Coronati; 
Te  tormenta  decet  pati 
Pro  corona  gloriae. 

[In  name  thou  art  a  crowned  one;  it  befits  thee  to  suffer 
torture  for  the  crown  of  glory.]  Elsewhere  the  same  illus- 
trious hymnologist  plays  in  like  manner  on  flie  name  of  St. 
Vincentius : 

Qui  vincentis  habet  nomen 

Ex  re  probat  dignum  omen 

Sui  fore  nominis; 

Vincens  terra,  vincens  mari 

Quidquid  potest  irrogari 

Poenae  vel  formidinis. 

[He  who  is  conqueror  (vincens)  in  name,  indeed  proves 
the  true  promise  of  his  name;  conquering  on  land  and  sea 
every  pain  or  fear  that  could  be  put  upon  him.]  In  the 
bull  for  the  canonization  of  Sta.  Clara,  the  Pope  does  not 
disdain  a  similar  play  upon  her  name :  Clara  claris  praeclara 
meritis,  magnae  in  caelo  claritate  gloriae,  ac  in  terra  miracu- 
lorum  sublimium,  clare  claret.  On  these  '  prophetic  '  names 
in  the  heathen  world  see  Pott,  Wurzel-Worterhuch,  vol.  2, 
part  2,  p.  522. 

^^  We  cannot  adduce  S.  Columba  as  another  example  in 
the  same  kind,  seeing  that  this  name  was  not  his  birthright, 
but  one  given  to  him  by  his  scholars  for  the  dove-like 
gentleness  of  his  character.  So  indeed  we  are  told ;  though 
it  must  be  owned  that  some  of  the  traits  recorded  of  him 
are  not  columbine  at  all. 

230 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

^^  ol  i^oSevovres, 

^^  See  Jacob  Grimm^  Ueher  Frauennamen  aus  Blumen, 
in  his  Kleiner e  Schriften,  vol.  2,  pp.  366-401 ;  and  on  the 
subject  of  this  paragraph  more  generally,  Schleicher,  Die 
Deutsche  Sprache,  p.  115  sqq. 

^^  Jean  Paul:  1st  jede  Sprache  in  Riicksicht  geistiger  Be- 
ziehungen  eine  Worterbuch  erblassten  Metaphorn.  [E very- 
language,  as  far  as  spiritual  and  intellectual  matters  are 
concerned,  is  a  dictionary  of  faded  metaphors.]  We  re- 
gret this,  while  yet  it  is  not  wholly  matter  of  regret. 
Gerber  {Sprache  als  Kunst,  vol.  1,  p.  387)  urges  that  lan- 
guage would  be  quite  unmanageable,  that  tlie  words  which 
we  use  would  be  continually  clashing  with  and  contradict- 
ing one  another,  if  every  one  of  them  retained  a  lively 
impress  of  the  image  on  which  it  originally  rested,  and 
recalled  this  to  our  mind.  His  words,  somewhat  too 
strongly  put,  are  these:  Fiir  den  Usus  der  Sprache,  fiir 
ihren  Verstand  und  ihre  Verstandlichkeit  ist  allerdings  das 
Erblassen  ihrer  Lautbilder,  so  dass  sie  allmahlich  als  blosse 
Zeichen  fiir  BegrifFe  fungiren,  nothwendig.  Die  Ueber- 
zahl  der  Bilder  wiirde,  wenn  sie  alle  als  solche  wirkten, 
nur  verwirren  und  jede  klarere  Auifassung,  wie  sie  die  prak- 
tischen  Zwecke  der  Gegenwart  fordern,  unmoglich  machen. 
Die  Bilder  wiirden  ausserdem  einander  zum  Theil  zer- 
storen,  indem  sie  die  Farben  verschiedener  Spharen  zusam- 
menfliessen  lassen,  und  damit  fiir  den  Verstand  nur  Unsinn 
bedeuten.  [In  the  use  of  language  and  for  its  intelligence 
and  intelligibility  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  its  figures 
grow  faded  so  that  they  gradually  become  mere  symbols 
for  ideas.  The  excessive  number  of  figures,  if  all  these 
remained  figurative,  would  only  be  confusing  and  make 
impossible  all  such  definite  concepts  as  are  demanded  by 
the  practical  needs  of  the  present.  Moreover  these  figures 
would  be  in  a  degree  mutually  destructive,  since  the  colors 
of  diverse  spheres  would  be  permitted  to  commingle  and 
in  this  way  these  conflicting  figures  would  be  mere  non- 
sense.] 

231 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

23  'Triticum  '  itself  may  be  connected  with  '  tero,  tritus.' 
2*  A  French  writer,  Adanson,  in  his  Natural  History  of 
Senegal  complains  of  the  misleading  character  which  names 
so  often  have,  and  urges  that  the  only  safety  is  to  give  to 
things  names  which  have  and  can  have  no  meaning  at  all. 
His  words  are  worth  quoting  as  a  curiosity,  if  nothing  else : 
L'experience  nous  apprend,  que  la  plupart  des  noms  sig- 
nificatifs  qu'on  a  voulu  donner  a  differens  objets  d'histoire 
naturelle,  sont  devenus  faux  a  mesure  qu'on  a  decouvert 
des  qualites,  des  proprietes  nouvelles  ou  contraircs  a  celles 
qui  avaient  fait  donner  ces  noms:  il  faut  done,  pour  se 
mettre  a  I'abri  des  contradictions,  eviter  les  termes  figures, 
et  meme  faire  en  sorte  qu'on  ne  puisse  les  rapporter  a 
quelque  etymologic,  afin  que  ceux,  qui  ont  la  fureur  des 
etymologies,  ne  soient  pas  tenus  de  leur  attribuer  une  idee 
fausse.  II  en  doit  etre  des  noms,  comme  des  coups  des  jeux 
de  hazard,  qui  n'ont  pour  I'ordinaire  aucune  liaison  entre 
eux:  ils  seraient  d'autant  meilleurs  qu'ils  seraient  moins 
significatifs,  moins  relatifs  a  d'autres  noms,  ou  a  des  choses 
connues,  parce  que  I'idee  ne  se  fixant  qu'a  un  seul  objet, 
le  saisit  beaucoup  plus  nettement,  que  lorsqu'elle  se  lie  avec 
d'autres  objets  qui  y  ont  du  rapport.  [Experience  proves 
that  most  descriptive  names  used  in  natural  history  have 
proved  false,  inasmuch  as  qualities  and  characteristics, 
either  new  or  contrary  to  those  on  account  of  which  the 
names  were  given,  have  come  to  light.  So,  then,  to  avoid 
such  contradictions  a  figurative  terminology  must  be 
shunned,  and  only  such  terms  should  be  used  as  can  not 
be  explained  by  any  etymology;  thus  the  critics  that  are 
etymology-mad  shall  be  unable  to  find  any  false  idea  in 
these  terms.  Nomenclature  in  the  sciences,  like  plays  in 
games  of  chance,  should  be  for  the  most  part  unrelated. 
Names  would  be  the  better,  the  less  significance  they  had, 
and  the  less  relation  to  other  words  or  to  objects  already 
known,  since  the  mind  if  it  could  fix  itself  on  one  single 
object  would  comprehend  it  much  more  clearly  than  when 
it  was  boimd  up  with  other  objects  bearing  some  relation 

232 


AUTHOR^S   NOTES 

to  it.]  There  is  truth  in  what  he  says,  but  the  remedy  he 
proposes  is  worse  than  the  disease. 

2^  Strabo,  8:2;  Pliny,  H.  N.  4:5;  Agathemerus,  1.  1.  p. 
1 5 ;    €X€t,v  Be  o/xoiov  <r)(rjfJLa  <^vAAa)  TrAaravov. 

^^  By  Fallmerayer,  Gesch.  der  Halbinsel  Morea,  p.  240, 
sqq.  The  island  of  Ceylon,  known  to  the  Greeks  as  Tapro- 
bane,  and  to  Milton  as  well  (P.  L.  4:  75),  owed  this  name 
to  a  resemblance  which  in  outline  it  bore  to  the  leaf  of 
the  betel  tree. 

^^  An  Italian  poet,  Fazio  degli  Uberti,  tells  us  that  Flo- 
rence has  its  appellation  from  the  same  cause: 

*  Poiche  era  posta  in  un  prato  di  fiori, 
Le  denno  il  nome  bello,  onde  s'  ingloria.* 

[For  that  it  lies  in  a  flowery  meadow,  they  gave  it  the  fair 
name  that  is  its  boast.]  It  would  be  instructive  to  draw 
together  a  collection  of  etymologies  which  have  been  woven 
into  verse.  These  are  so  little  felt  to  be  alien  to  the  spirit 
of  poetry,  that  they  exist  in  large  numbers,  and  often  lend 
to  the  poem  in  which  they  find  a  place  a  charm  and  interest 
of  their  own.  In  five  lines  of  Paradise  Lost,  Milton  intro- 
duces four  such  etymologies,  namely,  those  of  the  four 
fabled  rivers  of  hell,  though  this  will  sometimes  escape  the 
notice  of  the  English  reader: 

'  Abhorred  Styx,  the  flood  of  deadly  hate. 
Sad  Acheron  of  sorrow,  black  and  deep, 
Cocytus,  named  of  lamentation  loud 
Heard  on  the  rueful  stream;  fierce  Phlegethon, 
Whose  waves  of  torrent  fire  inflame  with  rage.* 

That  great  master  of  the  proprieties,  Virgil,  as  Bishop 
Pearson  has  so  happily  called  him,  does  not  shun,  but 
rather  loves  to  introduce  them,  as  witness  his  etymology  of 
Byrsa,  Mn.  1:  367,  368;  5:  59,  QS;  of  Silvius,  Mn.  6:  763, 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

765 ;  of  '  Latium/  with  reference  to  Saturn  having  re- 
mained latent  there  (vEn.  8:322;  of.  Ovid,  Fasti,  1:238): 

*  Latiumque  vocari 
Maluit^  his  quoniam  latuisset  tutus  in  oris : ' 

and  again  of  '  Avernus  '  (=  aopvo<s,  Mn.  6:  243);  being, 
indeed  in  this  anticipated  by  Lucretius  (6:  741): 

*  quia  sunt  avibus  contraria  cunctis.' 

Ovid's  taste  is  far  from  faultless,  and  his  example  can  not 
go  for  much;  but  he  is  always  a  graceful  versifier,  and 
his  Fasti  swarm  with  etymologies,  correct  and  incorrect; 
as  of  '  Agonalis  '  (1:  322),  of  '  AiDrilis  '  (4:  89),  of  'Au- 
gustus' (1:  609-614),  of  '  Februarius  '  (2:  19-22),  of 
'hostia'  (1:  336),  of  'Janus'  (1:  120-127),  of  'Junius' 
(6:  22),  of  '  Lemures  '  (5:  479-484),  of  '  Lucina  '  (2:  449), 
of  *  majestas  '  (5 :  26),  of  '  Orion  '  (5  :  5S5),  of  '  pecunia  ' 
(5:  280,  281),  of  '  senatus  '  (5:  64),  of  '  Sulmo  '  (4:  79; 
cf.  Silius  Italicus,  9:  70);  of  'Vesta'  (6:  299),  of  '  vic- 
tima  '  (1 :  335).  He  has  them  also  elsewhere,  as  of  '  Tomi ' 
(Trist.  3.  9:  33).  Lucilius,  in  like  manner,  gives  us  the 
etymology  of   '  iners  ' : 

*  Ut  perhibetur  iners,  ars  in  quo  non  erit  ulla;  * 

and  Propertius  (4.  2:3)  of  'Vertumnus';  and  Lucretius 
of  'Magnes'  (6:  909). 

^^  In  a  catalogue  of  English  Plant  Names  I  count  thirty 
in  which  '  cuckoo  '  formed  a  component  part. 

^^  '  Fair  fall  that  gentle  flower, 

A  golden  tuft  set  in  a  silver  crown,' 

as  Brown  exclaims,  whose  singularly  graceful  Pastorals 
should  not  be  suffered  to  fall  altogether  to  oblivion.  In 
Ward's  recent  English  Poets,  vol.  2.  p.  65,  justice  has  been 
done  to  them,  and  to  their  rare  beauty. 

^^  Varro :  Quod  erat  figura  ut  camelus,  maculis  ut  pan- 
thera  [Because  it  was  shaped  like  a  camel  nnd  sjDotted  like 

234 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

a  panther]  ;  and  Horace  (Ep.  2.  1 :  196)  :  Diversum  confusa 
genus  panthera  camelo  [A  varying  kind,  panther  mixed 
with  camel] . 

^^  In  Wallace's  Tropical  Nature  there  is  a  beautiful 
chapter  on  humming  birds,  and  the  names  which  in  various 
languages  these  exquisite  little  creatures  bear. 

22  Pliny,  H.N.  27:  32.  [More  probably  the  name  is 
due  to  the  brightness  of  the  stone;  in  Sanskrit  tapas  means 
heat.] 

22  Of  these  last  the  most  exhaustive  collection  which  I 
know  is  in  Philo,  De  Merced.  Meret.  §  4.  There  are  here 
one  hundred  and  forty-six  epithets  brought  together,  each 
of  them  indicating  a  sinful  mol'al  habit  of  mind.  It  was 
not  without  reason  that  Aristotle  wrote:  *  It  is  possible  to 
err  in  many  ways,  for  evil  belongs  to  the  infinite;  but  to 
do  right  is  possible  only  in  one  way  '  (Ethic.  Nic.  2.  6:  14). 

^'^  In  the  Greek,  eVtxatpeKaActa,  in  the  German,  '  Scha- 
denfreude.' Cicero  so  strongly  feels  the  want  of  such  a 
word,  that  he  gives  to  *  malevolentia  '  the  significance  *  volup- 
tas  ex  malo  alterius  '  [i.  e.,  makes  '  ill-will '  mean  'joy  in 
another's  ill  fortune  '],  which  lies  not  of  necessity  in  it. 

2^  Yet  this  itself  was  an  immense  fall  for  the  word  (see 
Ampere,  La  Langue  Frangaise,  p.  219,  and  Littre^  Diet, 
de  la  Langue  Frangaise,  preface,  p.  25). 

26  F.  Q.  3.  2:43. 

27  See  in  proof  Fuller,  Holy  State,  b.  3.  c.  19. 

2^  Not  otherwise  '  leichtsinnig '  in  German  meant  cheer- 
ful once ;  it  is  frivolous  now ;  while  in  French  a  *  rapporteur  ' 
is  now  a  bringer  back  of  malicious  reports,  the  malicious 
having  little  by  little  found  its  way  into  the  word. 

2^  Having  in  mind  what  *  Dime,'  connected  with  '  dienen,' 
*  Dienst,'  commonly  means  now  in  German,  one  almost 
shrinks  from  observing  that  it  was  once  a  name  of  honor 
which  could  be  and  was  used  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 
(see  Grimm,  Worterbuch,  s.  v.).  *  Schalk  '  in  like  manner 
had  no  evil  subaudition  in  it  at  first;  nor  had  it  ever  such 
during  the  time  that  it   survived  in  English;  thus  in  Sir 

235 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Gawayne  and  the  Green  Knight  the  peerless  Gawayne  is 
himself  on  more  than  one  occasion  a  '  schalk  '  (424,  1776). 
The  word  survives  in  the  last  syllable  of  '  seneschal/  and 
indeed  of  '  marshal '  as  well. 

^^  See  my  Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament,  §18. 

*^  '  Misery  '  and  *  miserable  '  do  not  any  longer  signify 
avarice  and  avaricious;  but  these  meanings  they  also  once 
possessed  (see  my  Select  Glossary,  s.  vv.).  In  them  we 
once  said,  and  in  '  miser  '  we  still  say,  in  one  word  what 
Seneca  when  he  wrote, — '  Nulla  avaritia  sine  poena  est,  quam- 
vis  satis  sit  ipsa  pcenarum  '  [no  greed  goes  unpunished, 
though  itself  punishment  enough] — took  a  sentence  to  say. 

*^  Sermons,  London,  l67*l,  vol.  2.  p.  244. 

*2  August  10,  1749. 

**  An  €^i?  [possession],  as  the  heathen  did,  not  a  Sd^prjfjia 
[gift,  present],  as  the  Christian  does;  see  a  remarkable 
passage  in  Bishop  Andrews'  Sermons,  vol.  3.  p.  384. 

^^  Sermons,  London,  1737,  vol.   1.  p.  407. 

^^  Thus  in  Jewish  Greek  iXerjixocrvvrf  stands  often  for 
hiKaioavvq  (Deut.  6:  25;  Ps.  102:  6,  LXX),  or  almsgiving 
for  righteousness. 

^^  Thus  Hamlet  does  much  more  than  merely  play  on 
words  when  he  calls  his  father's  brother,  who  had  married 
his  mother,  *  A  little  more  than  hin,  and  less  than  hind.' 

*®  *  Schlecht,'  which  in  modern  German  means  bad,  good 
for  nothing,  once  meant  good, — good,  that  is,  in  the  sense 
of  right  or  straight,  but  has  passed  through  the  same  stages 
to  the  meaning  which  it  now  possesses ;  '  albern  '  has  done 
the  same  (Max  Miiller,  Science  of  Language,  2nd  series,  p. 
274).  ^ 

*^  Life  and  Manners  in  Persia,  p.  247. 

^'^  The  heathen  with  their  evhaiixovia  [the  state  of  being 
blessed  by  a  kindly  divinity  or  genius;  thus,  happiness], 
inadequate  as  this  word  must  be  allowed  to  be,  put  iis  here 
to  shame. 

^^  A  similar  use  of  o-w/Aara  for  slaves  in  Greek  rested 
originally  on  the   same  forgetfulness  of  the  moral  worth 

236 


AUTHOR^S  NOTES 

of  every  man.  It  has  found  its  way  into  the  Septuagint 
and  Apocrypha  (Gen.  36:  6;  2  Mace.  8:  11;  Tob.  10:  10); 
and  occurs  once  in  the  New  Testament  (Rev.  18:  13).  [This 
is  true  only  so  far  as  the  Greeks  had  no  notion  of,  and  hence 
no  word  for,  man's  moral  nature.  The  use  of  o-w/xara 
bodies,  of  slaves,  is  then  little  more  than  the  figure  of  speech 
called  synecdoche,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  in 
classic  Greek  the  word  regularly  means  '  person,'  '  indi- 
vidual ' ;  iEschines  uses  to,  (^tArara  o-wyaara,  literally  '  dear- 
est bodies,'  to  mean  children.  In  fine  the  word  does  not 
connote  body  as  distinct  from  spirit,  but  individual  as  dis- 
tinct from  multitude.  So  '  people,'  or  '  folks  '  is  sometimes 
used  of  servants.  To  introduce  an  ethical  significance  is 
as  if  one  should  comment  on  the  fleshly  and  sensuous  tone 
of  the  word  '  body  '  in  the  line 

*  If  a  body  meet  a  body  coming  thro'  the  rye.'] 

^^  Sermons,  1737,  vol.  ^.  pp.  313-351;  vol.  6.  pp.  3-120. 
Thus  on  those  who  pleaded  that  their  '  honour  '  was  en- 
gaged, and  that  therefore  they  could  not  go  back  from 
this  or  that  sinful  act : — '  Honour  is  indeed  a  noble  thing, 
and  therefore  the  word  which  signifies  it  must  needs  be 
very  plausible.  But  as  a  rich  and  glistening  garment  may 
be  cast  over  a  rotten  body,  so  an  illustrious  commanding 
word  may  be  put  upon  a  vile  and  an  ugly  thing — for  words 
are  but  the  garments,  the  loose  garments  of  things,  and  so 
may  easily  be  put  off  and  on  according  to  the  humour  of 
him  who  bestows  them.  But  the  body  changes  not,  though 
the  garments  do.' 

^^  Bacon's  words  have  been  often  quoted,  but  they  will 
bear  being  quoted  once  more :  Credunt  enim  homines  rationem 
suam  verbis  imperare.  Sed  fit  etiam  ut  verba  suam  super 
intellectum  retorqueant  et  reflectant.  [For  men  think  their 
reason  is  lord  over  their  words.  But  it  happens  too  that 
words  exercise  a  reciprocal  and  reactionary  power  over  the 
intellect.  ] 

^*  '  Pransus  '  [dined]  and  '  potus  *  [wined],  in  like  man- 

237 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

ner,  as  every  Latin  scholar  knows,  mean  much  more  than 
they  say. 

^^  Rhet.  3.  2:  oi  Xtjo-toI  ovtovs  iropia-Tas  KaXovcn  vvv  [Pirates 
now  call  themselves  purveyors]. 

^^  For  the  rise  of  this  phrase,  see  Lemontey,  Louis  XIV, 
p.  43. 

^^  This  tendency  of  men  to  throw  the  mantle  of  an  hon- 
ourable word  over  a  dishonourable  thing,  or,  vice  versa,  to 
degrade  an  honourable  thing,  when  they  do  not  love  it,  by 
a  dishonourable  appellation,  has  in  Greek  a  word  to  describe 
it,  vTroKopL^ca-OaL  [of  uncertain  origin  and  derivation,  but 
perhaps  first  *  to  talk  baby  talk,'  then  *  to  flatter,*  '  to  mis- 
call,' and  finally  to  call  bad  good  or  good  bad],  itself  a  word 
with  an  interesting  history ;  while  the  great  ethical  teachers 
of  Greece  frequently  occupy  themselves  in  detecting  and 
denouncing  this  most  mischievous  among  all  the  impostures 
of  words.  Thus,  when  Thucydides  (3:82)  would  paint 
the  fearful  moral  ruin  which  her  great  Civil  War  had 
wrought,  he  adduces  this  alteration  of  the  received  value 
of  words,  this  fitting  of  false  names  to  everything — names 
of  honour  to  the  base,  and  of  baseness  to  the  honourable — 
as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  tokens  of  this,  even  as  it 
again  set  forward  the  evil,  of  which  it  had  been  first  the 
result. 

^^  Milton  in  a  profoundly  instructive  letter,  addressed 
by  him  to  one  of  his  friends  whom  he  made  during  his 
Italian  tour,  encourages  him  in  those  philological  studies  to 
which  he  had  devoted  his  life  by  such  words  as  these :  Neque 
enim  qui  sermo,  purusne  an  corruptus,  quaeve  loquendi  pro- 
prietas  quotidiana  populo  sit,  parvi  interesse  arbitrandum 
est,  quae  res  Athenis  non  semel  saluti  fuit;  immo  vero,  quod 
Platonis  sententia  est,  immutato  vestiendi  more  habituque 
graves  in  Republica  motus  mutationesque  portendi,  equidem 
potius  collabente  in  vitium  atque  errorem  loquendi  usu  occa- 
sum  ejus  urbis  remque  humilem  et  obscuram  subsequi  credi- 
derim :  verba  enim  partim  inscita  et  putida,  partim  mendosa 
et  perperam  prolata,  quid  si  ignavos   et   oscitantes  et  ad 

238 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

servile  quidvis  j  am  olim  paratos  incoiarum  animos  haud  levi 
indicio  declarant?  Contra  nullum  unquam  audivimus  im- 
perium^  nullam  civitatem  non  mediocriter  saltem  floruisse, 
quamdiu  linguae  sua  gratia,  suusque  cultus  constitit.  [It 
is  to  b3  reckoned  important  what  a  people's  language  is, 
whether  pure  or  corrupt,  and  how  correct  is  its  daily  habit 
of  speech;  attention  to  this  very  thing  was  often  the  saving 
of  Athens,  Plato  thought  that  changes  in  customs  and 
costumes  threatened  serious  changes  in  the  republic;  I 
should  prefer  to  believe  that  the  fall  of  the  city  and  its  low 
and  unimportant  position  were  consequent  upon  a  verbal 
usage  that  sank  into  error  and  fault.  For  words,  partly 
base  and  foul  and  partly  faulty  and  wrongly  used,  bear 
important  witness  to  minds  that  are  ignorant,  sluggish,  and 
all  too  ready  for  any  slavery.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
never  heard  of  empire  or  state  that  did  not  flourish,  moder- 
ately at  least,  so  long  as  its  language  kept  its  charm  and 
refinement.]  Compare  an  interesting  Epistle  (the  114th) 
of  Seneca. 

^^  See  p.  25. 

^^  Terrien  Poncel,  Du  Langage,  p.  231 :  Les  langues  sont 
faites  a  I'usage  des  peuples  qui  les  parlent;  elles  sont  ani- 
mees  chacune  d'un  esprit  different,  et  suivent  un  mode  par- 
ticulier  d'action,  conforme  a  leur  principe.  *  L'esprit  d'une 
nation  et  le  caractere  de  sa  langue,'  a  ecrit  G.  de  Humboldt, 
sont  si  intimement  lies  ensemble,  que  si  Fun  etait  donne, 
I'autre  devrait  pouvoir  s'en  deduire  exactement.  La  langue 
n'est  autre  chose  que  la  manifestation  exterieure  de  l'esprit 
des  peuples;  leur  langue  est  leur  esprit,  et  leur  esprit  est 
leur  langue,  de  telle  sorte  qu'en  developpant  et  perfection- 
nant  I'un,  ils  developpent  et  perfectionnent  necessairement 
I'autre.  [Languages  are  made  for  the  use  of  the  peoples 
that  speak  them,  and  each  is  animated  by  a  different  spirit 
and  follows  a  peculiar  manner  of  action  suited  to  its  funda- 
mental principle.  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  wrote :  '  The 
spirit  of  a  nation  and  the  nature  of  its  language  are  so 
closely   interrelated   that   if    either    were    given    the   other 

239 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

might  be  precisely  deduced  from  it.'  Language  is  merely 
the  outward  manifestation  of  national  characteristics;  a 
national  language  is  a  nation's  characteristics  and  its  char- 
acteristics are  its  language.  This  is  so  true  that  when  a 
nation  develops  and  perfects  either  characteristics  or  lan- 
guage_,  it  necessarily  develops  and  perfects  the  other.] 
And  a  recent  German  writer  has  well  said,  Die  Sprache,  das 
selbstgewebte  Kleid  der  Vorstellung,  in  welchem  jeder 
Faden  wieder  eine  Vorstellung  ist,  kann  uns,  richtig  be- 
trachet,  offenbaren,  welche  Vorstellungen  die  Grundfaden 
bildeten  (Gerber,  Die  Sprache  als  Kunst).  [Language, 
the  self-woven  garb  of  thought,  with  each  thread  in  its 
turn  a  thought,  can  reveal  to  us,  if  it  be  rightly  considered, 
the  thoughts  composed  by  the  main-warp  threads.] 

''^  Hare,  Mission  of  the  Comforter,  p  552. 

®^  See  on  this  matter.  The  Pope  and  the  Council,  by 
Janus,  p.  215. 

^^  It  did  not  escape  Plutarch,  imperfect  Latin  scholar  as 
he  was,  that  *  virtus  '  far  more  nearly  corresponded  to  avSpcta 
than  to  dper-q  (Coriol.  1). 

®*  See  on  this  matter  Marsh,  On  the  English  Language, 
New  York,  I860,  p.  224. 

®°  De  Orat.  2:4:  Quem  enim  nos  ineptum  vocamus,  is 
mihi  videtur  ab  hoc  nomen  habere  ductum,  quod  non  sit 
aptus.  Idque  in  sermonis  nostri  consuetudine  perlate  patet. 
Nam  qui  aut  tempus  quid  postulet,  non  videt,  aut  plura 
loquitur,  aut  se  ostentat,  aut  eorum  quibuscum  est  vel  dig- 
nitatis vel  commodi  rationem  non  habet,  aut  denique  in 
aliquo  genere  aut  inconcinnus  aut  multus  est,  is  ineptus  esse 
dicitur.  Hoc  vitio  cumulata  est  eruditissima  ilia  Graecorum 
natio.  Itaque  quod  vim  hujus  mali  Graeci  non  vident,  ne 
nomen  quidem  ei  vitio  imposuerunt.  Ut  enim  quaeras  omnia, 
quomodo  Graeci  ineptum  appellent,  non  invenies.  [He 
whom  we  call  inept  seems  to  me  to  be  so  named  because  he 
is  not  apt,  and  this  is  perfectly  evident  in  the  usage  of  our 
speech,  for  a  man  is  called  inept  if  he  fails  to  see  what  the 
occasion  demands,  or  talks  overmuch,  or  is  boastful,  or  does 

240 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

not  consider  the  position  and  comfort  of  his  fellows^  or, 
in  fine,  no  matter  how,  is  awkward  and  tedious.  The 
Greeks,  accomplished  as  they  are,  are  overburdened  with 
this  fault;  but  because  they  do  not  see  the  nature  of  this 
vice  they  have  never  put  a  name  to  it.  And  you  can  not 
learn  a  Greek  word  for  inept,  although  you  search  every- 
where.] 

^^  Two  or  three  examples  of  what  we  have  been  affirming, 
drawn  from  the  Latin,  may  fitly  here  find  place.  Thus 
Cicero  (Tusc.  3:  7)  laments  of  '  confidens  '  that  it  should 
have  acquired  an  evil  signification,  and  come  to  mean  bold, 
over-confident  in  oneself,  unduly  pushing  (compare  Virgil, 
Georg.  4:  444),  a  meaning  which  little  by  little  had  been 
superinduced  on  the  word,  but  etymologically  was  not  in- 
herent in  it  at  all.  In  the  same  way  '  latro,'  having  left 
two  earlier  meanings  behind,  one  of  these  current  so  late 
as  in  Virgil  {Mn.  12:  7),  settles  down  at  last  in  the  mean- 
ing of  robber.  Not  otherwise  '  f  acinus  '  begins  with  being 
simply  a  fact  or  act,  something  done;  but  ends  with  being 
some  act  of  outrageous  wickedness.  '  Pronuba  '  starts  with 
meaning  a  bridesmaid;  it  ignobly  ends  with  suggesting  a 
procuress. 

^~  This  statement  of  his  must  be  taken  with  a  certain 
amount  of  qualification.  It  is  not  always  that  races  are 
true  to  the  end  to  their  language ;  external  forces  are  some- 
times too  strong.  Thus  Celtic  disappeared  before  Latin 
in  Gaul  and  Spain.  Slavonic  became  extinct  in  Prussia 
two  centuries  ago,  German  taking  its  room;  the  negroes  of 
Hayti  speak  French,  and  various  American  tribes  have 
exchanged  their  o^vn  idioms  for  Spanish  and  Portuguese. 
See  upon  this  matter  Sayce's  Principles  of  Comparative 
Philology,  pp.  175-181. 

^^  See  Brugmann,  Grundriss  der  vergleichenden  Gram- 
matik  der  indogermanischen  Sprachen  (1886),  §  2. 

^^  Ozanam  (^Les  Germains  avant  le  Christianisme,  p. 
155):  Dans  le  vocabulaire  d'une  langue  on  a  tout  le  spec- 
tacle d'une  civilisation.      On   y  voit  ce   qu'un   peuple   sait 

241 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

des  choses  invisibles,  si  les  notions  de  Dieu,  de  Fame,  du 
devoir,  sont  assez  pures  chez  lui  pour  ne  soiiffrir  que  des 
termes  exacts.  On  mesure  la  puissance  de  ses  institutions 
par  le  nombre  et  la  propriete  des  termes  qu'elles  veulent 
pour  Icur  service;  la  liturgie  a  ses  paroles  sacramentelles, 
la  procedure  a  ses  formules.  Enfin,  si  ce  peuple  a  etudie 
la  nature,  il  f  aut  voir  a  quel  point  il  en  a  penetre  les  secrets, 
par  quelle  variete  d'expressions,  par  quels  sons  flatteurs  ou 
energiques,  il  a  cherclie  a  decrire  les  divers  aspects  du  ciel 
et  de  la  terre,  a  f aire,  pour  ainsi  dire,  I'inventaire  des  rich- 
esses  temporelles  dont  il  dispose.  [In  the  vocabulary  of 
a  language,  a  civilization  is  completely  mirrored,  and  it  is 
possible  to  see  what  a  people  thinks  of  the  things  that  are 
unseen,  and  whether  its  ideas  of  God,  the  soul,  and  duty 
are  so  pure  as  be  satisfied  only  by  well-defined  names.  The 
power  of  its  institutions  can  be  judged  by  the  number  and 
clearness  of  the  terms  required  to  serve  these  institutions; 
its  liturgy  may  be  estimated  by  its  sacramental  phraseology, 
and  its  law  by  its  legal  forms.  And  if  the  people  in  ques- 
tion has  studied  Nature,  we  must  needs  see  how  far  it  has 
penetrated  her  secrets,  and  how  various  are  the  expressions, 
how  servile  or  how  bold  the  words  it  has  used  in  its  attempt 
to  describe  the  varying  look  of  sky  or  earth,  or  in  other 
words  its  attempt  to  make  an  inventory  of  the  worldly 
riches  it  possesses.] 

'°  The  passage  most  illustrative  of  the  parentage  of  the 
word  is  from  Walafrid  Strabo  (about  a.  d.  840)  :  Ab  ipsis 
autem  Graecis  Kyrch  a  Kyrios,  et  alia  multa  accepimus. 
Sicut  domus  Dei  Basilica,  i.  e.  Regia  a  Rege,  sic  etiam 
Kyrica,  i.  e.  Dominica  a  Domino,  nuncupatur.  Si  autem 
quaeritur,  qua  occasione  ad  nos  vestigia  haec  graecitatis 
advenerint,  dicendum  praecipue  a  Gothis,  qui  et  Getae,  ciim 
eo  tempore,  quo  ad  fidem  Christi  perducti  sunt,  in 
Graecorum  provinciis  commorantes,  nostrum,  i.  e.  theotiscum 
sermonem  habuerint.  [From  the  Greeks  themselves  we  get 
the  word  'kirk'  from  Kvptos  (lord),  and  many  other 
words.     As  God's  house  is  called  a  Basilica,  that  is  a  royal 

242 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

dwelling  from  the  Greek  word  for  king,  so  *  kirk '  or 
'  church  '  is  called  the  Lord's  Day,  from  the  Greek  for  lord. 
If  the  question  arises  how  the  traces  of  this  Greek  word 
came  into  our  language,  the  answer  is,  from  the  Goths  or 
Getae,  for  at  the  time  they  were  brought  to  Christ  they  were 
living  in  Greek  provinces  but  used  a  Teutonic  tongue.] 
Cf.  Rudolf  von  Raumer,  Einwirkung  des  Christenthums 
auf  die  Althochdeutsche  Sprache,  p.  288;  Niedner,  Kirch. 
Geschichte,  p.  2. 

^^  There  is  a  good  note  on  '  pagan  '  in  Gibbon's  Decline 
and  Fall,  c.  21,  at  the  end;  and  in  Grimm's  Deutsche 
Mythol.  p.  1198;  and  the  history  of  the  changes  in  the 
word's  use  is  well  traced  in  another  interest  by  Mill,  Logic, 
vol.  2.  p.  271. 

^2  Vol.  3.  pp.  441-452. 

^^  For  a  history  of  *  sophist '  see  Sir  Alexander  Grant's 
Ethics  of  Aristotle,  2nd  ed.  vol.  1.  p.  106,  sqq. 

^*  See  Fuller,  Holy  War,  b.  1.  c.  13. 

^^  Decline  and  Fall,  c.  64. 

"^^  Thus  a  letter  professing  to  be  of  Pope  Anacletus  the 
First  in  the  first  century,  but  really  belonging  to  the  ninth : 
Apostolica  Sedes  cardo  et  caput  omnium  Ecclesiarum  a 
Domino  est  constituta;  et  sicut  cardine  ostium  regitur,  sic 
hujus  S.  Sedis  auctoritate  omnes  EcclesiEE  reguntur.  [The 
Apostolic  See  has  been  constituted  by  the  Lord  the  hinge 
and  head  of  all  churches;  and  as  the  door  is  governed  by 
the  hinge,  so  by  the  authority  of  this  Holy  See  all  churches 
are  governed.]  And  we  have  *  cardinal '  put  in  relation 
with  this  '  cardo  '  in  a  genuine,  letter  of  Pope  Leo  IX. : 
Clerici  summae  Sedis  Cardinales  dicuntur,  cardini  utique 
illi  quo  cetera  moventur,  vicinius  adhaerentes.  [The  clergy 
of  the  highest  rank  are  called  cardinals,  inasmuch  as  they 
cling  the  closer  to  that  hinge  that  moves  all  else.] 

^^  Von  dem  Einfluss  der  Meinungen  in  der  Sprache,  und 
der  Sprache  in  den  Meinungen,  von  J.  D.  Michaelis,  Berlin, 
1760. 

^®  Augustine :  Quid  est  crystallum  ?    Nix  est  glacie  durata 
243 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

per  multos  annos^  ita  ut  a  sole  vel  igne  facile  dissolvi  non 
possit.  [What  is  crystal?  It  is  snow  hardened  into  ice  by- 
long  time^  so  that  it  can  not  easily  be  dissolved  by  sun  or 
fire.]  So  too  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  tragedy  of  Valen- 
tinian,  a  chaste  matron  is  said  to  be  *  cold  as  crystal  never 
to  be  thawed  again/ 

^^  The  name^  as  the  designation  of  a  style  of  architec- 
ture, came  to  us  from  Italy.  Thus  Fuller  in  his  Worthies: 
'  Let  the  Italians  deride  our  English  and  condemn  them  for 
Gothish  buildings.'  See  too  a  very  curious  expression  of 
men's  sentiments  about  Gothic  architecture  as  simply  equiv- 
alent to  barbarous,  in  Phillip's  Ne?v  World  of  Words,  1706, 
s.  V.  *  Gothick.' 

^^  In  North's  Examen,  p.  321,  is  a  very  lively,  though 
not  a  very  impartial,  account  of  the  rise  of  these  names. 

®^  Dr.  Eck,  one  of  the  earliest  who  wrote  against  the 
Reformation,  first  called  the   Reformed  '  Lutherani.' 

«2  Pliny,  H.  N.  25:34. 

^^  Several  other  such  words  we  have  in  common  with 
the  French.  Of  their  own  they  have  '  sardanapalisme,'  any 
piece  of  profuse  luxury,  from  Sardanapalus.  For  '  1am- 
biner,'  to  dally  or  loiter  over  a  task,  they  are  indebted  to 
Denis  Lambin,  a  worthy  Greek  scholar  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  accused  of  sluggish  movement  and  wearisome 
diffuseness  in  style.  Every  reader  of  Pascal's  Provincial 
Letters  will  remember  Escobar,  the  famous  casuist  of  the 
Jesuits,  whose  convenient  devices  for  the  relaxation  of  the 
moral  law  have  there  been  made  famous.  To  the  notoriety 
which  he  thus  acquired,  he  owes  his  introduction  into  the 
French  language ;  where  *  escobarder  '  is  used  in  the  sense  of 
to  equivocate,  and  *  escobarderie  '  of  subterfuge  or  equivo- 
cation. A  pale  green  colour  is  in  French  called  '  celadon  ' 
from  a  personage  of  this  name,  of  a  feeble  and  fade  tender- 
ness, who  figures  in  Astree,  a  popular  romance  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  An  unpopular  minister  of  finance,  ^I.  de 
Silhouette,  unpopular  because  he  sought  to  cut  down  unnec- 
essary expenses  in  the  State,  saw  his  name  transferred  to 

244 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

the  slight  and  thus  cheap  black  outline  portrait  called  a 
'  silhouette  '  (Sismondi^  Hist,  des  Frangais,  vol.  19-  pp-  94, 
95).  In  the  '  mansarde  '  roof  we  are  reminded  of  Mansart, 
the  architect  who  introduced  it.  In  '  marivaudage '  the 
name  of  Marivaux  is  bound  up,  who  was  noted  for  the 
affected  euphuism  which  goes  by  this  name;  very  much  as 
the  sophist  Gorgias  gave  yopyia^etv  to  the  Greek.  The  point 
of  contact  between  the  *  fiacre '  and  St.  Fiacre  is  well 
known:  hackney  carriages,  when  first  established  in  Paris, 
waited  for  their  hiring  in  the  court  of  an  hotel  which  was 
adorned  with  an  image  of  the  Scottish  saint. 

^*  See  Col.  Mure,  Language  and  Literature  of  Ancient 
Greece,  vol.  i.  p.  350. 

*^  See  Genin,  Des  Variations  du  Langage  Frangais,  p.  12. 

^^  Humboldt  has  abundantly  shown  this  (Kosmos,  vol.  2. 
note  457).  He  ascribes  its  general  reception  to  its  intro- 
duction into  a  popular  work  on  geography,  published  in 
1507.  The  subject  has  also  been  very  carefully  treated  by 
Major,  Life  of  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator,  1868,  pp. 
382-388. 

^^  See  on  this  disputed  point,  and  on  the  relation  between 
the  Latin  '  stipulatio  '  and  the  old  German  custom  not  alto- 
gether dissimilar,  J.  Grimm,  Deutsche  Rechtsalterthiimer, 
p.  121,  sqq. 

^®  See  my  Select  Glossary,  s.  v.  Lumber. 

^^  See  the  Prologue  to  Ben  Jonson's  Every  Man  out  of 
His  Humour,  and  Select  Glossary,  s.  v. 

^^  '  Jovial '  in  Shakespeare's  time  (see  Cymheline,  5.  4.) 
had  not  forgotten  its  connexion  with  Jove. 

^"^  Paradise  Lost,  3:  714-719- 

^^  See  an  excellent  history  of  this  word,  in  Rost  and 
Palm's  Greek  Lexicon,  s.  v.    o-ap8ovto9. 

®^  For  a  full  and  most  interesting  study  on  this  very  curi- 
ous legend,  see  Max  Miiller's  Lectures  on  Language,  vol.  2. 
pp.  533-551. 

«^  See  Pliny,  2V.  iJ.  2 :  96;  36:  17. 

^^  It  is  curious  to  find  Fuller  prophesying,  a  very  few 
245 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

years  before^  that  at  some  future  day  such  a  protest  as 
theirs  might  actually  be  raised  (Church  History,  b.  2.  cent. 
6)  :  *  Thus  we  see  the  whole  week  bescattered  with  Saxon 
idols,  whose  pagan  gods  were  the  godfathers  of  the  days, 
and  gave  them  their  names.  This  some  zealot  may  behold 
as  the  object  of  a  necessary  reformation,  desiring  to  have 
the  days  of  the  week  new  dipt,  and  called  after  other  names. 
Though,  indeed,  this  supposed  scandal  will  not  offend  the 
wise,  as  beneath  their  notice;  and  cannot  offend  the  igno- 
rant, as  above  their  knowledge.' 

^^  See  Littre,  Etudes  et  Glanures,  p.  l6;  compare  p.  23. 
Elsewhere  he  says :  Les  mots  ont  leurs  decheances  commes 
les  families.  [Words,  like  families,  sometimes  come  down 
in  the  world.] 

^^  Dilke,  Greater  Britain,  vol.  2.  p.  40. 

»^  Acts  11:26. 

«^  Tertullian,  Adv.  Prax.  3. 

^^^  Ignatius,  Ad.  Smyrn.  8. 

101  Origen,  0pp.  vol.  3.  p.  SQ  (ed.  De  la  Rue). 

1*^2  Tertullian,  Adv.  Marc.  4:  1 ;  Adv.  Prax.   15:  20. 

1^3  Justin  Martyr,  Apol.  1 :  m. 

10*  *  Nun  '  (nonna)  first  apj^ears  in  Jerome  {Ad  Eustoch. 
Ep.  22);  'monk'  (monachus)  a  little  earlier:  Rutilius,  a 
Latin  versifier  of  the  fifth  century,  who  still  clung  to  the 
old  Paganism,  gives  the  derivation: 

Ipsi  se  monachos  Graio  cognomine  dicunt. 
Quod  soli  nullo  vivere  teste  volunt. 

[They  call  themselves  by  a  Greek  name  '  monks  '  or  soli- 
taries, because  they  wish  to  live  alone,  with  none  to  see 
them]. 

10^  Hildebert,  Archbishop  of  Tours  (f  1134),  is  the  first 
to  use  it  (Serm.  93). 

106  Thomas  Aquinas  is  reported  to  have  been  the  first 
to  use  this  word. 

10"^  Thomas  Aquinas  first  employs  *  limbus  '  in  this  sense. 

108  JEschylus,  Prometheus  Vinctus,  412. 
246 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

1^^  Id.  Swppl.  282. 

11*^  Herodotus,  4:36. 

Ill  Id.  5:17. 

11^  Aristotle,  Meteor.  1.  14.  But  his  VpcuKoi  are  only  an 
insignificant  tribe,  near  Dodona.  How  it  came  to  pass  that 
Graeci,  or  Graii,  was  the  Latin  name  by  which  all  the  Hel- 
lenes were  known,  must  always  remain  a  mystery. 

11^  Probably  first  in  the  Commentaries  of  Caesar ;  see 
Grimm,  Gesch.  d.  Deutschen  Spraclie,  p.  773. 

11*  Spartian,  Caracalla,  c.  9- 

11^  Vopiscus,  Aurel.  7;  about  a.  d.  240. 

116  '  Pruzia  '  and  *  Pruzzi '  first  appear  in  the  Life  of 
S.  Adalbert,  written  by  his  fellow-labourer  Gaudentius,  be- 
tween 997-1006. 

11"  The  Geographer  of  Ravenna. 

11^  Probably  in  Hellanicus,  a  contemporary  of  Hero- 
dotus. 

11^  In  the  time  of  Augustus  Caesar;  see  Niebuhr,  History  of 
Rome,  Engl.  Translation,  vol.  1.  p.  12. 

1^*^  Orosius,  1:2:  in  the  fifth  century  of  our  era. 

1^1  In  the  writings  of  Archilochus,  about  700  b.  c.  A  *  ty- 
rant '  was  not  for  Greeks  a  bad  king,  who  abused  a  rightful 
position  to  purposes  of  lust  or  cruelty  or  other  wrong.  It  was 
of  the  essence  of  a  '  tyrant '  that  he  had  attained  supreme 
dominion  through  a  violation  of  the  laws  and  liberties  of 
the  state;  having  done  which,  whatever  the  moderation  of 
his  after-rule,  he  would  not  escape  the  name.  Thus  the 
mild  and  bounteous  Pisistratus  was  '  tyrant '  of  Athens, 
while  a  Christian  II.  of  Denmark,  '  the  Nero  of  the  North,' 
would  not  in  Greek  eyes  have  been  one.  It  was  to  their 
honour  that  they  did  not  allow  the  course  of  the  word  to  be 
arrested  or  turned  aside  by  occasional  or  partial  exceptions 
in  the  manner  of  the  exercise  of  this  ill-gotten  dominion ;  but 
in  the  hateful  secondary  sense  which  '  tyrant '  with  them 
acquired,  and  which  has  passed  over  to  us,  the  moral  con- 
viction, justified  by  all  experience,  spake  out,  that  the  ill- 
gotten  would  be  ill-kept ;  that  the  *  tyrant '  in  the  earlier 

247 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

sense  of  the  word,  dogged  by  suspicion,  fear,  and  an  evil 
conscience,  must,  by  an  almost  inevitable  law,  become  a 
'  tyrant '  in  our  later  sense  of  the  word. 

^"  Pythagoras,  born  b.  c.  570,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  who  made  this  application  of  the  word.  For  much  of 
interest  on  its  history  see  Humboldt,  Kosmos,  1846,  English 
edit.,  vol.  1.  p.  371. 

^"^  Compare  Tacitus  (Annal.  15:44):  Quos  vulgus  .  .  . 
Christianos  appellabat.  It  is  curious  too  that,  although  a 
Greek  word  and  coined  in  a  Greek  city,  the  termination 
is  Latin.  Xpto-rtavo?  is  formed  on  the  model  of  Romanus, 
Albanus,  Pompeianus,  and  the  like.  [This  is  uncertain;  to 
take  only  two  examples  given  by  Trench  himself,  do  not 
the  Greek  originals  of  the  words  *  pheasant '  (^ao-tavo?) 
and  '  gentian  '  (Pevriav^),  both  derived,  by  the  way,  from 
proper  names,  show  that  the  ending  in  question  was  Greek?] 

^'^  Renan  (Les  Apotres,  pp.  233-236)  has  much  instruc- 
tion on  this  matter.  I  quote  a  few  words;  though  even 
in  them  the  spirit  in  which  the  whole  book  is  conceived 
does  not  fail  to  make  itself  felt:  L'heure  ou  une  creation 
nouvelle  re9oit  son  nom  est  solennelle;  car  le  nom  est  le 
signe  definitif  de  I'existence.  C'est  par  le  nom  qu'un  etre 
individuel  ou  collectif  devient  lui-meme,  et  sort  d'un  autre. 
La  formation  du  mot  *  chretien  '  marque  ainsi  la  date 
precise  ou  I'Eglise  de  Jesus  se  separa  du  judaisme.  .  .  . 
Le  christianisme  est  completement  detache  du  sein  de  sa 
mere;  la  vraie  pensee  de  Jesus  a  triomphe  de  I'indecision 
de  ses  premiers  disciples;  I'Eglise  de  Jerusalem  est  depassee; 
I'Arameen,  la  langue  de  Jesus,  est  inconnue  a  ime  partie 
de  son  ecole ;  le  christianisme  parle  grec ;  il  est  lance  defini- 
tivement  dans  le  grand  tourbillon  du  monde  grec  et  remain ; 
d'oii  il  ne  sortira  plus.  [The  hour  in  which  a  new  being  is 
named  is  a  solemn  one,  for  the  name  is  the  clear  mark  of 
life  and  it  is  by  being  named  that  a  being,  whether  individ- 
ual or  collective,  becomes  itself  and  is  separated  from  an- 
other organism.  So  the  formation  of  the  word  '  Christian  ' 
marks  the  exact  date  when  the  Church  of  Jesus  broke  with 

248 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

Judaism.  .  .  .  Christianity  is  now  thoroughly  weaned  from 
its  mother's  breast.  The  true  thought  of  Jesus  has  tri- 
umphed over  the  wavering  of  his  earliest  disciples,  and  the 
Church  of  Jerusalem  is  left  behind.  Aramaic,  Jesus'  own 
tongue,  is  unknown  to  some  of  his  followers,  and  Greek 
becomes  the  language  of  Christianity.  Thus  Christianity 
is  definitely  launched  in  the  stormy  waters  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  world,  never  to  leave  them  again.] 

^^^  Renan,  speaking  on  this  matter,  says  of  the  early 
Christians:  La  langue  leur  faisait  defaut.  Le  Grec  et  le 
Semitique  les  trahissaient  egalement.  De  la  cette  enorme 
violence  que  le  Christianisme  naissant  fit  au  langage  {Les 
Apotres,  p.  71).  [Language  failed  them:  Greek  and  Sem- 
itic alike  played  them  false.  Hence  the  monstrous  violence 
done  language  by  Christianity  at  its  birth.] 

^^•^  Ilpocr(D7ro\-r]7rTr]S,  KapStoyvioa-Trjs. 

^^'  We  preside  at  its  birth  in  a  passage  of  Josephus,  Con. 
Apion.  2:  16. 

^^^  Hoc  [o-wrrj/a]  quantum  est  ?  ita  magnum  ut  Latine  uno 
verbo  exprimi  non  possit.  [How  much  does  this  word 
'  saviour  '  mean  ?  So  much  that  it  can  not  be  expressed  in 
a  single  Latin  word.] 

^-^  Serm.  299-  6:  Christus  Jesus,  id  est  Christus  Salvator: 
hoc  est  enim  Latine  Jesus.  Nee  quaerant  grammatici  quam 
sit  Latinum,  sed  Christiani,  quam  verum.  Salus  enim  Lat- 
inum  nomen  est ;  salvare  et  salvator  non  f uerunt  haec  Latina, 
antequam  veniret  Salvator:  quando  ad  Latinos  venit,  et  hsec 
Latina  fecit.  [Christ  Jesus,  that  is,  Christ  the  Saviour,  for 
such  is  the  meaning  of  Jesus.  And  grammarians  need  not 
ask  how  the  word  Salvator  (Saviour)  is  good  Latin;  rather 
let  Christians  ask  how  true  the  word  is.  For  salus  (safety) 
is  a  Latin  word,  but  the  verb  salvare  and  the  noun  of  agent 
salvator  were  not  Latin  words  before  the  coming  of  the 
Saviour.  When  he  came  to  the  Latins  he  made  these  words 
also  good  Latin.]  Cf.  IDe  Trin.  13:  10:  Quod  verbum  [sal- 
vator] Latina  lingua  antea  non  habebat,  sed  habere  poterat; 
sicut  potuit  quando  voluit.      [This  word  salvator,  the  Latin 

249 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

language  did  not  formerly  have,  but  might  well  have  had  it, 
and  so  could  have  it,  when  there  was  need  of  it.]  Other 
words  which  we  owe  to  Christian  Latin,  probably  to  the 
Vulgate  or  to  the  earlier  Latin  translations,  are  these — 
'  carnalis/  *  clarifico,'  '  compassio,'  '  deitas  '  (Augustine, 
Civ.  Dei,  7:  1)^  *  glorifico,'  '  idololatria,'  '  incarnatio,'  *  jus- 
tifico,'  '  justificatio,'  *  longanimitas,'  '  mortifico,'  '  magnalia,' 
'mundicors,'  'passio,'  'praedestinatio,'  'refrigerium'  (Ronsch, 
Vulgata,  p.  321),  *  regeneratio,'  '  resipiscentia,'  '  revelatio,' 
'  sanctificatio,'  '  soliloquium,'  '  sufficientia,'  '  supererogatio,' 
'  tribulatio.'  Many  of  these  may  seem  barbarous  to  the 
Latin  scholar,  but  there  is  hardly  one  of  them  which  does 
not  imply  a  new  thought,  or  a  new  feeling,  or  the  sense  of 
a  new  relation  of  man  to  God  or  to  his  fellow-man.  Strange 
too  and  significant  that  heathen  Latin  could  get  as  far  as 
'  peccare  '  and  *  peccatum,'  but  stopped  short  of  '  peccator  ' 
and  *  peccatrix.' 

^^°  See  Lobeck,  Phrynichus,  p.   350. 

^^^  See  Dwight,  Modern  Philology,  2d  Series,  p.  100; 
Heyse,  System  der  Sprachwissenschaft,  §  139— 1 4-1  ;  and 
Peile,  Introduction  to  Greek  and  Latin  Etymology,  pp. 
357-379. 

^^^  Fin.  2:4;  and  for  *  qualitas  '  see  Acad.  1 :  6. 

^^^  Ille  verborum  vigilantissimus  appensor  ac  mensor,  as 
Augustine  happily  terms  him. 

^^*  Thus  the  monkish  line : 

Invidiosus  ego,  non  invidus  esse  laboro. 

[I  strive  to  rouse  others'  envy,  not  my  own.] 

135  Tusc.  3:  9;  4:  8;  cf.  Doderlein,  Synon.  vol.  3.  p.  68. 
13®  Quintilian's  advice,  based  on  this  fact,  is  good  (1.  6: 
42)  :  Etiamsi  potest  nihil  peccare,  qui  utitur  iis  verbis  quae 
summi  auctores  tradiderunt,  multum  tamen  ref ert  non  solum 
quid  dixerint,  sed  etiam  quid  persuaserint.  [Although 
there  can  be  no  mistake  in  using  words  given  us  by  the 
greatest  writers,  it  is  of  importance  not  merely  that  they  used 
the  word  but  that  they  brought  it  into  use.]      He  himself, 

250 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

as  he  informs  us,  invented  '  vocalitas  '  to  correspond  with 
the  Greek  cvcfxuvia  (Instit.  1:5.  24),  but  I  am  not  conscious 
that  he  found  any  imitators  here. 

^^^  Thus  Seneca  a  little  later  is  unaware,  or  has  forgotten, 
that  Cicero  made  any  such  suggestion.  Taking  no  notice 
of  it,  he  proposes  '  impatientia  '  as  an  adequate  rendering 
of  (XTra^cta.  There  clung  this  inconvenience  to  the  word,  as 
he  himself  allowed,  that  it  was  already  used  in  exactly  the 
opposite  sense  (Ep.  9).  Elsewhere  he  claims  to  be  the  in- 
ventor of  *  essentia  '  {Ep.  38). 

i2«  Tusc.  4:  15. 

^^^Ibid.  4:9.  21. 

^^""Ibid.  4:11. 

"1  Nat  Deor.  1 :  34. 

^^^  See  my  English  Past  and  Present,  ISth  edit.  p.  US. 

^*^  Therefore  the  maxim : 

Moribus  antiquis,  praesentibus  utere  verbis. 

[Use  the  morals  of  the  past,  but  the  words  of  the  present.] 

^^*  See  Mill,  System  of  Logic,  iv.  6,  3. 

^^^  '  Alcoran  '  supplies  another  example  of  this  curious 
annexation  of  the  article.  Examples  of  a  like  absorption 
or  incorporation  of  it  are  to  be  found  in  many  languages; 
in  our  own,  when  we  write  *  a  newt,'  and  not  an  ewt,  or 
when  our  fathers  wrote  '  a  nydiot '  (Sir  T.  More),  and  not 
an  idiot ;  but  they  are  still  more  numerous  in  French.  Thus 
'  lierre,'  ivy,  was  written  by  Ronsard,  *  I'hierre,'  which  is 
correct,  being  the  Latin  '  hedera.'  '  Lingot '  is  our  *  ingot,' 
but  with  fusion  of  the  article ;  in  *  larigot '  and  '  loriot '  the 
word  and  the  article  have  in  the  same  manner  grown  to- 
gether. In  old  French  it  was  *  Tendemain,'  or,  le  jour  en 
demain :  *  le  lendemain,'  as  now  written,  is  a  barbarous 
excess  of  expression.  '  La  Pouille,'  a  name  given  to  the 
southern  extremity  of  Italy,  and  in  which  we  recognize 
'  Apulia,'  is  another  variety  of  error,  but  moving  in  the 
same  sphere  (Genin,  Recreations  Philologiques,  vol.  1.  pp. 
102-105);  of  the  same  variety  is  'La  Natolie/  which  was 

251 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

written  '  L'Anatolie  '  once.  An  Irish  scholar  has  observed 
that  in  modern  Irish  'an'  (=  *  the ')  is  frequently  thus 
absorbed  in  the  names  of  places,  as  in  '  Nenagh  '  (the  fair), 
'  Naul '  (the  cliff),  '  Newry  '  (the  yew-tree)  ;  while  some- 
times an  error  exactly  the  reverse  of  this  is  committed,  and 
a  letter  supposed  to  be  the  article,  but  in  fact  a  part  of  the 
word,  dropt:  thus  '  Oughaval,'  instead  of  '  Noughhaval '  or 
New  Habitation. 

^^^  The  '  roues  '  themselves  declared  that  the  word  ex- 
pressed rather  their  readiness  to  give  any  proof  of  their 
affection,  even  to  the  being  broken  upon  the  wheel,  to  their 
protector  and  friend. 

^^^  North,  Examen,  p.  574';  for  the  origin  of  '  sham  '  see 
p.  2S1.  Compare  Swift  in  The  Taller,  No.  230.  '  I  have 
done  the  utmost,'  he  there  says,  '  for  some  years  past  to 
stop  the  progress  of  "  mob  "  and  "  banter  ";  but  have  been 
plainly  borne  down  by  numbers,  and  betrayed  by  those  who 
promised  to  assist  me.' 

^^^  As  in  the  d/x^tTrroXe/xoTTTySr/a-io-rpaTos  of  Eupolis ;  the 
(TTTipixayopaioXeKLBoXa^avoTruiXL's  of  Aristophanes.  There  are 
others  a  good  deal  longer  than  these. 

"^^^  Persa,  4:6,  20-23. 

15^  Works,  vol.  2.  p.  13. 

^"^^  Nisard  {Curiosites  de  VEtym.  Frang.  p.  195)  has  an 
article  on  these  words,  where  with  the  epigrammatic  neat- 
ness which  distinguishes  French  prose,  he  says,  Je  regrette 
que  I'Academie  repousse  de  son  Dictionnaire  les  mots 
blague,  blagueur,  laissant  gronder  a  sa  porte  ces  fils 
effrontes  du  peuple,  qui  finiront  par  I'enf oncer.  [I  regret 
that  the  Academy  keeps  out  of  its  Dictionary  the  words 
blague  and  blagueur  ('humbug'),  but  leaves  muttering  at 
the  door  these  insolent  children  of  the  common  people,  who 
will  break  in  sooner  or  later.]  On  this  futility  of  strug- 
gling against  popular  usage  in  language  Montaigne  has 
said,  '  They  that  will  fight  custom  with  grammar  are  fools  ' ; 
and,  we  may  add,  not  less  fools,  as  engaged  in  as  hopeless 
a  conflict,  they  that  will  fight  it  with  dictionary. 

252 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

^^^  A  work  by  Darmesteter,  Be  la  Creation  actuelle  de 
Mots  nouveaux  dans  la  Langue  Frangaise,  Paris,  1877,  is 
well  worth  consulting  here. 

^^^  One  has  well  said,  '  The  subject  of  language,  the  in- 
strument, but  also  the  restraint,  of  thought,  is  endless. 
The  history  of  language,  the  mouth  speaking  from  the 
fulness  of  the  heart,  is  the  history  of  human  action,  faith, 
art,  policy,  government,  virtue,  and  crime.  When  society 
progresses,  the  language  of  the  people  necessarily  runs  even 
with  the  line  of  society.  You  cannot  unite  past  and  present, 
still  less  can  you  bring  back  the  past ;  moreover,  the  law  of 
progress  is  the  law  of  storms,  it  is  impossible  to  inscribe 
an  immutable  statute  of  language  on  the  periphery  of  a 
vortex,  whirling  as  it  advances.  Every  political  develop- 
ment induces  a  concurrent  alteration  or  expansion  in  con- 
versation and  composition.  New  principles  are  generated, 
new  authorities  introduced;  new  terms  for  the  purpose  of 
explaining  or  concealing  the  conduct  of  public  men  must 
be  created:  new  responsibilities  arise.  The  evolution  of 
new  ideas  renders  the  change  as  easy  as  it  is  irresistible, 
being  a  natural  change  indeed,  like  our  own  voice  under 
varying  emotions  or  in  different  periods  of  life:  the  boy 
cannot  speak  like  the  baby,  nor  the  man  like  the  boy,  the 
wooer  speaks  otherwise  than  the  husband,  and  every  alter- 
ation in  circumstances,  fortune  or  misfortune,  health  or 
sickness,  prosperity  or  adversity,  produces  some  corre- 
sponding change  of  speech  or  inflection  of  tone. 

^^*  On  the  new  words  in  classical  Latin,  see  Quintilian, 
Inst.  8 :  3.  30-37. 

1^^  Solil.  2 :  7. 

^^®  Diogenes  Laertius,  Procem.  §  12. 

^^^  Clarendon  State  Papers,  vol.  2.  p.  40  of  the  Appendix. 

158  Preface  to  Dr.  Jackson's  Works,  vol.  1.  p.  27.  A  work 
of  Fleming's  published  in  1700,  bears  the  title,  Christology. 

^^®  *  These  cooks  have  persuaded  us  their  coarse  fare  is 
the  best,  and  all  other  but  what  they  dress  to  be  mere 
quelques  choses,  made  dishes  of  no  nourishing  '  (Whitlock^ 
Zootomia,  p.  147). 

/iOO 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

160  Narrative  of  my  Life  and  Times,  p.  34;  '  The  original 
of  which  name  is  not  certainly  known.  Some  say  it  was 
because  the  Puritans  then  commonly  wore  short  hair,  and 
the  King's  party  long  hair;  some  say,  it  was  because  the 
Queen  at  Strafford's  trial  asked  who  that  round-headed 
man  was,  meaning  Mr.  Pym,  because  he  spake  so  strongly.' 

^^^  Hahn,  Ketzer  im  Mittelalter,  vol.  2.  p.  534. 

^^2  Mahn,  Etymol.  Untersuch.  p.  92.  Littre,  who  has 
found  the  word  in  use  as  a  Christian  name  two  centuries 
before  the  Reformation,  has  no  doubt  that  here  is  the  expla- 
nation of  it.  At  any  rate  there  is  here  what  explodes  a 
large  number  of  the  proposed  explanations,  as  for  instance 
that  Huguenot  is  another  and  popular  shape  of  *  Eidge- 
nossen  *  [confederates]. 

^^^  Lightfoot,  On  the  Colossians,  p.  144  sqq. 

^^*  Freeman,  Principles  of  Divine  Service,  vol.  1.  p.  145, 
and  the  English  Dictionary,  s.  v. 

^^^  Mahn,  Etym.  Untersuch.  p.  65 ;  ct.  Kurtz,  Kirchen- 
geschichte,  3d  edit.  p.  115. 

^^®  The  word  is  first  met  in  Chrysostom,  who  calls  the 
silver  models  of  the  temple  at  Ephesus  (Acts  19:  24)  i/xt/cpa 
KtySwpta. 

^^^  Germania,  2. 

i^«  Pott,  Etymol.  Forsch.  vol.  2.  pt.  2,  pp.  860-872. 

^*®  Stubbs,  Constitutional  History  of  England,  vol.  1.  p. 
251. 

i^«  Cicero,  Nat.  Deor.  2:25. 

^^^  Dwight,  Modern  Philology,  1st  series,  p.  288. 

^^^  For  a  full  and  learned  treatment  of  the  various  deri- 
vations of  '  Mephistopheles  '  which  have  been  proposed, 
and  for  the  first  appearance  of  the  name  in  books,  see 
Ward's  Marlowe's  Doctor  Faustus,  p.   117. 

^^^  See  Transactions  of  the  Philological  Society,  1866, 
pp.  6-25. 

^^*  Grimm,  in  an  interesting  review  of  a  little  volume 
dealing  with  what  the  Spaniards  call  '  Germania '  with 
no   reference    to    Germany,   the    French    '  argot,'    and    we 

254 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

'  Thieves'  Language/  finds  in  this  language  the  most 
decisive  evidence  of  this  fact  {Kleine  Schrift.  vol.  4.  p. 
165)  :  Der  nothwendige  Zusammenhang  aller  Sprache  mit 
Ueberlieferung  zeigt  sich  auch  hier;  kaum  ein  Wort  dieser 
Gaunermundart  scheint  leer  erfunden,  und  Menschen  eines 
GelichterS;,  das  sich  sonst  kein  Gewissen  aus  Liigen  macht, 
beschamen  manchen  Sprachphilosophen^  der  von  Erdich- 
tung  einer  allgemeinen  Sprache  getraumt  hat.  [The  nec- 
essary relation  of  all  languages  to  tradition  is  evident  even 
here.  Scarcely  a  word  in  this  rogues'  argot  seems  actually 
invented,  and  men  of  a  class  that  nowhere  else  makes  any 
scruple  of  lying  put  to  shame  many  a  linguist,  who  has 
dreamed  of  fabricating  a  universal  language.]  Van  Hel- 
mont  indeed,  a  sort  of  modern  Paracelsus,  is  said  to  have 
invented  the  word  *  gas  ' ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  think  that  there 
was  not  a  feeling  here  after  '  geest '  or  '  geist,'  whether 
he  was  conscious  of  this  or  not.  [He  says  himself  that  he 
had  in  mind  the  Greek  word  x^^^> — ^whence  English 
'  chaos.*] 

^^^  Some  will  remember  here  the  old  dispute — Greek  I 
was  tempted  to  call  it,  but  in  one  shape  or  another  it  emerges 
everywhere — whether  words  were  imposed  on  things  Secret  or 
<f>v(T€L,  by  arbitrary  arrangement  or  by  nature.  We  may 
.  boldly  say  with  Bacon,  Vestigia  certe  rationis  verba  sunt, 
and  decide  in  favour  of  nature.  If  only  they  knew  their 
own  history,  they  could  always  explain,  and  in  most  cases 
justify,  their  existence.  See  some  excellent  remarks  on 
this  subject  by  Renan,  De  VOrigine  du  Langage,  pp. 
14-6-149;  and  an  admirable  article  on  'Slang'  in  the 
Times,  Oct.  18,  1864. 

^^^  Augustine  (De  Civ.  Dei,  15:23):  Apocrypha  nuncu- 
pantur  eo  quod  eorum  occulta  origo  non  claruit  Patribus. 
[They  are  called  apocryphal  because  their  hidden  origin 
was  not  manifest  to  the  Church  Fathers.]  Cf.  Con.  Faust. 
11:2. 

1"  See  Bentley,  Works,  vol.  1.  p.  337. 

^^®  See  my  Sacred  Latin  Poetry,  3rd  edit.  p.  32. 
255 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

^"^^  See  my  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany,  p.  131. 

180  jtqj.  jj  good  recapitulation  of  what  best  has  been 
written  on  '  superstitio/  see  Pott^  Etym,  Forschungenj  vol. 
2.  p.  921. 

^®^  The  word  '  synonym  '  only  found  its  way  into  the 
English  language  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Its  recent  incoming  is  marked  by  the  Greek  or  Latin 
termination  which  for  a  while  it  bore;  Jeremy  Taylor  writ- 
ing '  synonymon/  Hacket  '  synonymum^'  and  Milton  (in 
the  plural)  '  synonyma.'  Butler  has  '  synonymas.'  On 
the  subject  of  this  chapter  see  Marsh,  Lectures  on  the 
English  Language,  New  York,  I860,  p.  571,  sqq. 

^^-  Pott  in  his  Etymol.  Forschungen,  vol.  5.  p.  69,  and 
elsewhere,  has  much  interesting  instruction  on  the  subject. 
There  were  four  attempts  to  render  cipwvcto,  itself,  it  is 
true,  a  very  subtle  word.  They  are  these :  '  dissimulatio  ' 
(Cicero)  ;  *  illusio  '  (Quintilian)  ;  *  simulatio  '  and  '  irrisio.' 

183  -yy^  have  a  memorable  example  of  this  in  the  history 
of  the  great  controversy  of  the  Church  with  the  Arians. 
In  the  earlier  stages  of  this,  the  upholders  of  the  orthodox 
faith  used  ova-la  and  virocrTaa-LS  as  identical  in  force  and 
meaning  with  one  another,  Athanasius,  in  as  many  words, 
affirming  them  to  be  such.  As,  however,  the  controversy 
went  forward,  it  was  perceived  that  doctrinal  results  of 
the  hightest  importance  might  be  fixed  and  secured  for  the 
Church  through  the  assigning  severally  to  these  words  dis- 
tinct modifications  of  meaning.  This,  accordingly,  in  the 
Greek  Church,  was  done;  while  the  Latin,  desiring  to  move 
pari  passu,  did  yet  find  itself  most  seriously  embarrassed 
and  hindered  in  so  doing  by  the  fact  that  it  had,  or  assumed 
that  it  had,  but  the  one  word,  '  substantia,'  to  correspond 
to  the  two  Greek. 

^^'^  Paradise  Lost,  5:  102-105;  so  too  Longinus,  De 
Subl.   15. 

^^^  Thus  De  Quincey  (Letters  to  a  Young  Man  whose 
Education  has  been  neglected) :  '  All  languages  tend  to 
clear  them.sclves  of   synonyms,  as  intellectual  culture  ad- 

9.56 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

vances;  the  superfluous  words  being  taken  up  and  appro- 
priated by  new  shades  and  combinations  of  thought  evolved 
in  the  progress  of  society.  And  long  before  this  appropri- 
ation is  fixed  and  petrified^  as  it  were,  into  the  acknowledged 
vocabulary  of  the  language,  an  insensible  clinamen  (to 
borrow  a  Lucretian  word)  prepares  the  way  for  it.  Thus, 
for  instance,  before  ^Ir.  Wordsworth  had  unveiled  the  great 
philosophic  distinction  between  the  powers  of  fancy  and 
imagination,  the  two  words  had  begun  to  diverge  from  each 
other,  the  first  being  used  to  express  a  faculty  somewhat 
capricious  and  exempted  from  law,  the  other  to  express 
a  faculty  more  self-determined.  When,  therefore,  it  was 
at  length  perceived,  that  under  an  apparent  unity  of  mean- 
ing there  lurked  a  real  dualism,  and  for  philosophic  pur- 
poses it  was  necessary  that  this  distinction  should  have  its 
appropriate  expression,  this  necessity  was  met  half  way 
by  the  clinamen  which  had  already  affected  the  popular 
usage  of  the  words.'  Compare  what  Coleridge  had  before 
said  on  the  same  matter,  Biogr.  Lit.  vol.  1.  p.  90;  and  what 
Ruskin,  Modern  Painters,  part  3,  §  2,  ch.  3,  has  said  since. 
It  is  to  Coleridge  that  we  owe  the  word  *  to  desynonymize  ' 
(Biogr.  Lit.  p.  87) — which  is  certainly  preferable  to  Pro- 
fessor Grote's  '  despecificate.'  Purists  indeed  will  object 
that  it  is  of  hybrid  formation,  the  prefix  Latin,  the  body 
of  the  word  Greek;  but  for  all  this  it  may  very  well  stand 
till  a  better  is  offered.  Coleridge's  own  contributions, 
direct  and  indirect,  in  this  province  are  perhaps  more  in 
number  and  in  value  than  those  of  any  other  English 
writer;  thus  to  him  we  owe  the  disentanglement  of  '  fanat- 
icism '  and  'enthusiasm'  (Lit.  Rem.  vol.  2.  p.  365);  of 
'keenness'  and  'subtlety'  (Table-Talk,  p.  140);  of 
'poetry'  and  'poesy'  (Lit.  Rem.  vol.  1.  p.  219);  of 
'analogy'  and  'metaphor'  (Aids  to  Reflection,  1825,  p. 
198)  ;  and  that  on  which  he  himself  laid  so  great  a  stress^ 
of  '  reason  '  and  '  understanding.' 

186  jtqj.  ^jjg  exact  difference  between  these,  and  other  pairs 
or  larger  groups  of  words,  see  my  Select  Glossary. 

257 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

i«^  Church  and  State,  p.  200. 

^^^  So  entirely  was  any  determining  reason  wanting,  that 
for  some  while  it  was  a  question  which  word  should  obtain 
the  honourable  employment,  and  it  seemed  as  if  *  astrology  ' 
and  '  astrologer  '  would  have  done  so,  as  this  extract  from 
Bishop  Hooper  makes  abundantly  plain  {Early  Writings, 
Parker  Society,  p.  331)  :  '  The  astrologer  is  he  that  knoweth 
the  course  and  motions  of  the  heavens  and  teacheth  the 
same ;  which  is  a  virtue  if  it  pass  not  its  bounds,  and  become 
of  an  astrologer  an  astronomer,  who  taketh  upon  him  to 
give  judgment  and  censure  of  these  motions  and  courses  of 
the  heavens,  what  they  prognosticate  and  destiny  unto  the 
creature.' 

^®^  If  in  the  course  of  time  distinctions  are  thus  created, 
and  if  this  is  the  tendency  of  language,  yet  they  are  also 
sometimes,  though  far  less  often,  obliterated.  Thus  the 
fine  distinctions  between  *  yea  '  and  '  yes,'  '  nay  '  and  '  no,' 
once  existing  in  English,  has  quite  disappeared.  *  Yea  ' 
and  *  Nay,'  in  Wiclif 's  time,  and  a  good  deal  later,  were 
the  answers  to  questions  framed  in  the  affirmative.  '  Will 
he  come  ?  '  To  this  it  would  have  been  replied,  '  Yea  '  or 
'  Nay,'  as  the  case  might  be.  But  '  Will  he  not  come  ?  * 
— to  this  the  answer  would  have  been,  *  Yes,'  or  *  No.'  Sir 
Thomas  More  finds  fault  with  Tyndale,  that  in  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  he  had  not  observed  this  distinction, 
which  was  evidently  therefore  going  out  even  then,  that 
is  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  shortly  after  it  was 
quite  forgotten. 

^^^  Everyone  who  desires,  as  he  reads  Milton,  thoroughly 
to  understand  him,  will  do  well  to  be  ever  on  the  watch 
for  such  recalling,  upon  his  part,  of  words  to  their  primitive 
sense;  and  as  often  as  he  detects,  to  make  accurate  note 
of  it  for  his  own  use,  and,  so  far  as  he  is  a  teacher,  for 
the -use  of  others.  Take  a  few  examples  out  of  many: 
'afflicted'  (P.  L.  1:186);  'alarmed'  (P.  L.  4:985); 
'  ambition  '  (P.  L.  1 :  262;  S.  A.  24-7)  ;  '  astonished  '  (P.  L. 
1 :  266)  ;  '  chaos  '  (P.  L.  6:  55)  ;  *  diamond  '  (P.  L.  6:  364^)  ; 

258 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

'emblem'  (P.  L.  4:703);  'empiric'  (P.  L.  5:440); 
'engine'  (P.  L.  1:750);  'entire'  (  =  integer,  P.  L.  9: 
292);  'extenuate'  (P.  L.  10:645);  'illustrate'  (P.  L.  5: 
739)  ;  '  implicit '  (P.  L.  7:  323)  ;  '  indorse  '  (P.  R.  3:  329)  ; 
'  infringe  '  (P.  i?.  1 :  62)  ;  '  mansion  '  (Com.  2)  ;  '  moment ' 
(P.  L.  10:45);  'oblige'  (P.  L.  9:980);  'person'  (P.  L. 
10:156);  'pomp'  (P.  L.  8:6l);  'sagacious'  (P.  L.  10: 
281);  'savage'  (P.  L.  4:172);  'scene'  (P.  L.  4:140); 
'secular'  (S.  A.  1707);  'secure'  (P.  L.  6:638);  'sedi- 
tious '  (P.  L.  6:152)  ;  '  transact '  (P.  L.  6:  286)  ;  '  voluble  ' 
(P.  L.  9:  436).  We  may  note  in  Jeremy  Taylor  a  similar 
reduction  of  words  to  their  origins ;  thus,  '  insolent '  for 
unusual,  '  metal '  for  mine,  '  irritation  '  for  a  making  vain, 
'extant'  for  standing  out  (applied  to  a  bas-relief),  'con- 
trition' for  bruising  ('the  contrition  of  the  serpent'); 
'  probable  '  for  worthy  of  approval  ('  a  probable  doctor.') 
The  author  of  the  excellent  Lexique  de  la  Langue  de  Cor- 
neille  claims  the  same  merit  for  him  and  for  his  great  con- 
temporaries or  immediate  successors :  Faire  rendre  aux  mots 
tout  ce  qu'ils  peuvent  donner,  en  varier  habilement  les  ac- 
ceptions  et  les  nuances,  les  ramener  a  leur  origine,  les 
retremper  frequemment  a  leur  source  etymologique,  con- 
stituait  un  des  secrets  principaux  des  grands  ecrivains  du 
dix-septieme  siecle.  [To  get  words  to  yield  up  all  they 
had  in  them  to  give,  to  vary  skilfully  their  significances 
and  shades  of  meaning,  to  carry  them  back  to  their  origin, 
and  to  dip  them  again  in  the  etymological  source  from 
which  they  first  flowed  was  one  of  the  main  secrets  of  the 
great  authors  of  the  eighteenth  century.]  It  is  this  putting  of 
old  words  in  a  new  light,  and  to  a  new  use,  though  that  will 
be  often  the  oldest  of  all,  on  which  Horace  sets  so  high  a 
store: 

Dixeris  egregie,  notum  si   callida  verbum 

Reddiderit  junctura  novum; 

[You  shall  be  highly  praised  if  your  skilled  composition 
gives   a   new  meaning   to   a   familiar   word]    and  not   less 

259 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Montaigne :  '  The  handling  and  utterance  of  fine  wits  is 
that  which  sets  off  a  language;  not  so  much  by  innovating 
it,  as  by  putting  it  to  more  vigorous  and  various  service, 
and  by  straining,  bending  and  adapting  it  to  this.  They  do 
not  create  words,  but  they  enrich  their  own,  and  give  them 
weight  and  signification  by  the  uses  they  put  them  to.' 

^^^  See  Coleridge,  Church  and  State,  p.  18. 

^^^  Thus  he  distinguishes  between  *  voluntas  '  and  '  cu- 
piditas';  '  cautio  '  and  '  metus  '  (Tusc.  4:6);  '  gaudium,' 
'  laetitia,'  '  voluptas  '  (Tusc.  4:6;  Fin.  2:4);  '  prudentia  ' 
and  '  sapientia  '  (Off.  1:43);  '  caritas  '  and  'amor'  (De 
Part.    Or.   25);   *  ebrius  '   and  *  ebriosus,'    *  iracundus  '   and 

*  iratus,'  '  anxietas  '  and  *  angor  '  (Tusc.  4:12);  *  vitium,' 
'morbus'  and  '  aegrotatio  '  (Tusc.  4:13);  'labor'  and 
'  dolor  '  (Tusc.  2:  15)  ;  '  furor  '  and  '  insania  '  (Tusc.  3:5); 

*  malitia  '  and  '  vitiositas  '  (Tusc.  4:15);  '  doctus  '  and 
'  peritus  '  (Off.  1:3).  Quintilian  also  often  bestows  atten- 
tion on  synonyms,  observing  well  (6:3.  17):  '  Pluribus 
nominibus  in  eadem  re  vulgo  utimur,  quae  tamen  si  didu- 
cas,  suam  quandam  propriam  vim  ostendent.'  [We  com- 
monly use  several  words  for  the  same  thing,  but  if  you  dis- 
criminate, you  will  see  a  peculiar  force  in  each]  ;  he  ad- 
duces '  salsum,'  '  urbanum,'  'facetum';  and  elsewhere  (5: 
3)  '  rumor  '  and  *  fama  '  are  discriminated  happily  by  him. 
Among  Church  writers  Augustine  is  a  frequent  and  suc- 
cessful discriminator  of  words.  Thus  he  separates  off 
from  one  another  '  flagitium  '  and  '  f acinus  '  (De  Doct. 
Christ  3:10);  '  aemulatio '  and  '  invidia  '  (Expl.  ad  Gal. 
10:  20)  ;  *  arrha  '  and  '  pignus  '  (Serm.  23:  8,  9)  ;  *  studio- 
sus  '  and  *  curiosus  '  (De  Util.  Cred.  9)  ;  '  sapientia  '  and 
'  scientia '  (De  Div.  Quces.  2,  qu.  2);  *  senecta '  and 
'  senium  '  (Enarr.  in  Ps.  70:  18)  ;  '  schisma  '  and  '  haeresis  ' 
(Con.  Cresc.  2:7);  with  many  more  (see  my  Synonyms  of 
the  N.  T.  Preface,  p.  xi).  Among  the  merits  of  the 
Grimms'  Worterhuch  is  the  care  which  they,  and  those  who 
have  taken  up  their  work,  bestow  on  the  discrimination  of 
synonyms ;     distinguishing,     for     example,     *  Degen  '     and 

260 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

'  Schwert ' ;  '  Feld/  '  Acker  '  and  '  Heide  ' ;  '  Aar  '  and 
'  Adler  ' ;  '  Antlitz  '  and  '  Angesicht ' ;  '  Kelch/  '  Becher  ' 
and  '  Glas  ' ;  '  Frau  '  and  '  Weib  ' ;  '  Butter/  '  Schmalz  '  and 
'  Anke  ' ;  *  Kopf  '  and  '  Haupt ' ;  '  klug  '  and  '  weise  ' ; 
'  geben  '  and  *  schenken  ' ;  '  Heirath'  and  '  Ehe.' 

^^^  L'esprit  consiste  a  connaitre  la  ressemblance  des  choses 
diverses,  et  la  difference  des  choses  semblables  [Wit  con- 
sists in  knowing  the  similarity  between  unlike  things,  and 
the  difference  between  like  things]  (Montesquieu).  Saint- 
Evremond  says  of  a  reunion  of  the  Precieuses  at  the  Hotel 
Rambouillet,  with  a  raillery  which  is  not  meant  to  be  dis- 
respectful— 

*  La  se  font  distinguer  les  fiertes  des  rigueurs^ 
Les  dedains  des  mepris,  les  tourments  des  langueurs; 
On  y  sait  demeler  la  crainte  et  les  alarmes, 
Discerner  les  attraits,  les  appas  et  les  charmes.* 

[There  haughtiness  is  distinguished  from  severity,  disdain 
from  scorn,  pangs  from  pining;  there  they  can  discern  be- 
tween fear  and  alarm,  and  distinguish  attraction,  allure- 
ment, and  charms.] 

^^*  I  will  suggest  here  a  few  pairs  or  larger  groups  of 
words  on  which  those  who  are  willing  to  exercise  them- 
selves in  the  distinction  of  synonyms  might  perhaps  profit- 
ably exercise  their  skill ; — *  fame,'  *  popularity,'  '  celebrity,' 

*  reputation,'  '  renown  ' ; — '  misfortune,'  *  calamity,'  '  disas- 
ter ' ; — '  impediment,'  '  obstruction,'  '  obstacle,'  *  hindrance  ' ; 
— '  temerity,'  *  audacity,'  '  boldness  ' ; — *  rebuke,'  '  repri- 
mand,' '  censure,'  *  blame  ' ;  —  '  adversary,'  *  opponent,' 
'  antagonist,'  '  enemy  ' ;  —  *  rival,'  '  competitor  ' ;  —  *  afflu- 
ence,' '  opulence,'   '  abundance,'   '  redundance  ' ; — '  conduct,' 

*  behaviour,'  '  demeanour,'  '  bearing  ' ; — '  execration,'  *  male- 
diction,' '  imprecation,'  '  anathema  ' ; — *  avaricious,'  '  covet- 
ous,' '  miserly,'  '  niggardly  ' ; — '  hypothesis,'  '  theory,'  *  sys- 
tem '  (see  De  Quincey,  Lit.  Rem.  American  ed.  p.  229) ; — 
'  masculine,'  '  manly  ' ; — *  effeminate,'  '  feminine  ' ; — '  wom- 
anly,'   '  womanish  ' ; — *  malicious,'    '  malignant ' ; — '  savage/ 

261 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

*  barbarous/   *  fierce/   '  cruel/    *  inhuman  ' ; — '  low/   *  mean,* 

*  abject/  '  base  '; — *  to  chasten/  *  to  punish/  '  to  chastise  '; 
— '  to  exile/  '  to  banish  ' ; — *  to  declare/  '  to  disclose/  '  to 
reveal/  *  to  divulge  ' ; — *  to  defend/  *  to  protect/  '  to  shel- 
ter ' ; — '  to  excuse/  *  to  palliate  ' ; — '  to  compel/  '  to  coerce,' 
'  to  constrain/  *  to  force.' 

^^^  '  Slander  involveth  an  imputation  of  falsehood,  but  de- 
traction may  be  couched  in  truth,  and  clothed  in  fair  lan- 
guage. It  is  a  poison  often  infused  in  sweet  liquor,  and 
ministered  in  a  golden  cup.'  Compare  Spenser,  Fairy 
Queen,  5:  12.  28-43. 

^^^  Sermons,  1737,  vol.  5.  p.  403.  His  words  are  quoted 
in  my  Select  Glossary,  s.  v,  '  Emulation.' 

^^'  La  propriete  des  termes  est  le  caractere  distinctif  des 
grands  ecrivains;  c'set  par  la  que  leur  style  est  toujours  au 
niveau  de  leur  sujet;  c'est  a  cette  qualite  qu'on  reconnait 
le  vrai  talent  d'ecrire,  et  non  a  I'art  futile  de  deguiser  par 
un  vain  coloris  les  idees  communes.  [The  precise  use  of 
words  is  the  distinguishing  mark  of  great  writers  ;  this  makes 
their  style  always  fit  their  theme;  and  this  quality  is  the 
test  of  true  literary  ability,  whereas  the  futile  art  of  dis- 
guising commonplace  ideas  by  empty  ornament  is  no  such 
test.]  So  D'Alembert;  but  Caesar  long  before  had  said. 
Delectus  verborum,  eloquentiae  origo  [The  choice  of  words 
is  the  source  of  eloquence]. 

^^^  Thus  I  observe  in  modern  French  the  barbarous 
'  derailler,'  to  get  off  the  rail ;  and  this  while  it  only  needed 
to  recall  '  derayer  '  from  the  oblivion  into  which  it  had  been 
allowed  to  fall. 

^^^  See  on  all  this  matter  in  Locke's  Essay  on  Human 
Understanding,  chapters  9,  10  and  1 1  of  the  3rd  book,  cer- 
tainly the  most  remarkable  in  the  Essay;  they  bear  the 
following  titles:  Of  the  Imperfection  of  Words,  Of  the 
Abuse  of  Words,  Of  the  Remedies  of  the  Imperfection  and 
Abuse  of  Words. 

^^^  Menage  is  one  of  these  '  blind  leaders  of  the  blind,' 
of  whom  I  have  spoken  above.     With  all  their  real,  though 

262 


AUTHOR'S   NOTES 

not  very  accurate,  erudition,  his  three  folio  volumes,  two 
on  French,  one  on  Italian  etymologies,  have  done  nothing 
but  harm  to  the  cause  which  they  were  intended  to  further. 
Genin  {Recreations  Philologiques,  pp.  12-15)  passes  a 
severe  but  just  judgment  upon  them.  Menage,  comme  tons 
ses  devanciers  et  la  plupart  de  ses  successeurs,  semble 
n'avoir  ete  dirige  que  par  un  seul  principe  en  fait  d'etymol- 
ogie.  Le  voici  dans  son  expression  la  plus  nette.  Tout  mot 
vien  du  mot  qui  lui  ressemble  le  mieux.  Cela  pose.  Menage, 
avec  son  erudition  polyglotte,  s'abat  sur  le  grec,  le  latin, 
I'italien,  I'espagnol,  I'allemand,  le  celtique,  et  ne  fait  diffi- 
culte  d'aller  jusqu'a  I'hebreu.  C'est  dommage  que  de  son 
temps  on  ne  cultivat  pas  encore  le  Sanscrit,  I'hindoustani, 
le  thibetain  et  I'arabe:  il  les  eut  contraints  a  lui  livrer  des 
etymologies  fran^aises.  II  ne  se  met  pas  en  peine  des 
chemins  par  oil  un  mot  hebreu  ou  carthaginois  aurait  pu 
passer  pour  venir  s'etablir  en  France.  II  y  est,  le  voila, 
suffit !  L'identite  ne  pent  etre  mise  en  question  devant  la 
ressemblance,  et  souvent  Dieu  salt  quelle  ressemblance ! 
[Menage,  like  all  his  predecessors  and  the  majority  of  his 
successors,  seems  to  have  been  guided  by  a  single  principle 
in  etymologizing.  This  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  fol- 
lows: Every  word  comes  from  the  word  most  like  it.  This 
settled,  Menage,  with  his  varied  knowledge  of  languages, 
fell  to  at  Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  Spanish,  German,  and  Cel- 
tic, and  did  not  scruple  to  go  to  Hebrew.  Too  bad  that  in  his 
time  people  did  not  study  Sanskrit,  Hindustani,  Thibetan, 
and  Arabic !  For  he  would  have  made  each  of  them  give 
him  etymologies  for  French  words.  He  did  not  worry  him- 
self how  a  Hebrew  or  Carthaginian  word  could  have  got  to 
France  and  established  itself  there.  There  it  is.  Well,  that  is 
enough.  The  identity  of  the  two  words  can  not  be  ques- 
tioned in  view  of  the  similarity — and  what  did  the  similarity 
actually  amount  to,  often  enough.^]  Compare  Ampere, 
Formation  de  la  Langue  Frangaise,  pp.  19^,  195. 

2^^  Leibnitz  (0pp.  vol.  5.  p.  61)  :  Saepe  fit  ut  etymologiae 
verae  sint,  quae  primo  aspectu  verisimiles  non  sunt. 

263 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

2^2  Compare  Max  Miiller,  Chips  from  a  German  Work- 
shop, vol.  4.  p.  25 ;  Heyse,  System  der  Sprachwissenschaft, 
p.  307. 

203  \yiiat  signal  gains  may  in  this  way  be  made  no  one 
has  shown  more  remarkably  than  Skeat  in  his  Etymological 
Dictionary. 

^^^  I  do  not  know  whether  the  advocates  of  phonetic 
spelling  have  urged  the  authority  and  practice  of  Augustus 
as  being  in  their  favour.  Suetonius,  among  other  amusing 
gossip  about  this  Emperor,  records  of  him:  Videtur  eorum 
sequi  opinionem,  qui  perinde  scribendum  ac  loquamur,  ex- 
istiment  {Octavius.  c.  88).  [It  seems  that  he  agreed  with 
those  who  think  that  words  should  be  spelled  just  as  pro- 
nounced.] 

205  ^g  ypa/x/Aaro,  dypa/x/xaros,   litterce,  belles-lettres. 

^^^  The  same  attempt  to  introduce  phonography  has  been 
several  times  made,  once  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  again 
some  thirty  years  ago  in  France.  What  would  be  there 
the  results.'*  We  may  judge  of  these  from  the  results  of 
a  partial  application  of  the  system.  *  Temps  '  is  now 
written  '  tems/  the  p  having  been  ejected  as  superfluous. 
What  is  the  consequence.''  at  once  its  visible  connexion  with 
the  Latin  *  tempus/  with  the  Spanish  '  tiempo/  with  the 
Italian  *  tempo/  with  its  own  *  temporel '  and  '  temporaire/ 
is  broken,  and  for  many  effaced.  Or  note  the  result  from 
another  point  of  view.  Here  are  '  poids  '  a  weight,  '  poix  ' 
pitch,  '  pois  '  peas.  No  one  could  mark  in  speaking  the 
distinction  between  these ;  and  thus  to  the  ear  there  may  be 
confusion  between  them,  but  to  the  eye  there  is  none;  not 
to  say  that  the  d  in  '  poic?s  '  puts  it  for  us  in  relation  with 
'  ponc^us,'  the  x  in  '  poi.r  '  with  '  pio*/  the  s  in  *  poi*  '  with 
the  Low  Latin  *  pi^um.'  In  each  case  the  letter  which  these 
reformers  would  dismiss  as  useless,  and  worse  than  useless, 
keeps  the  secret  of  the  word.  On  some  other  attempts  in 
the  same  direction  see  in  D'Israeli,  Amenities  of  Literature, 
an  article  On  Orthography  and  Orthoepy;  and  compare 
Diez,  Romanische  Sprache,  vol.   1.  p.  52. 

264 


AUTHOR^S   NOTES 

2^^  For  a  nearly  complete  list  of  homonyms  in  English 
see  List  of  Homonyms  at  the  end  of  Skeat's  Etym.  Diet.; 
Kock's  Historical  Grammar  of  the  English  Language,  vol. 
1.  p.  223;  Matzner's  J^wgZ.  Grammatik,  vol.  1.  pp.  187-204; 
and  compare  Dwight's  Modern  Philology,  vol.  2.  p.  311. 

^^^  '  But  nothing  might  relent  his  hasty  flight/  Spenser, 
F.  Q.  3:4. 

-^^  See  Bacon's  Novum  Organon,  2:  36. 

^^^  But  *  trivial '  may  be  from  '  trivium  '  in  another  sense : 
that  is,  from  the  *  trivium/  or  three  preparatory  disciplines, 
— grammar,  arithmetic,  and  geometry, — as  distinguished 
from  the  four  more  advanced,  or  '  quadrivium  ' ;  these  and 
those  together  being  esteemed  in  the  Middle  Ages  to  consti- 
tute a  complete  liberal  education.  Preparatory  schools  were 
often  called  '  trivial  schools,'  as  occupying  themselves  with 
the  '  trivium.' 

^^^  This  was  written  in  England,  and  in  the  year  1851. 

212  0pp.  vol.  6.  pt.  2.  p.  20. 

213  Pott,  Etym.  Forsch.  vol.  2.  pt.  2.  p.  1172. 
21*  See  Sweet's  Oldest  English  Texts  (index). 

21^  Kemble,  The  Saxons  in  England,  vol.  1.  p.  420; 
Stubbs,  Constitutional  History  of  England,  p.  98. 


265 


LIFE    OF  THE    AUTHOR 

Both  the  Chenevixes  and  the  Trenches,  earlier  La 
Tranche,  were  Huguenot  refugees,  and  Richard  Chenevix 
Trench  had  in  him  besides  some  Spanish  blood,  enough  to 
account  for  his  early  interest  in  Spanish  literature,  and  per- 
haps for  his  Celtic  and  almost  morbid  melancholy.  His 
father  was  a  lawyer  and  a  brother  of  the  first  Lord  Ash- 
town;  and  his  mother,  Melesina  Chenevix,  daughter  of  the 
Bishop  of  Waterford,  was  a  beautiful  and  witty  woman, 
whose  letters  her  son  edited  in  1862  and  Edward  Fitzgerald 
ranked  with  Walpole's  and  Southey's. 

Born  in  Dublin  Sept.  9,  1807,  the  boy  was  taken  to 
Eton  Lodge,  Bursledon,  in  1810,  and  was  entered  in  his 
tenth  year  at  Troyford  School,  and  three  years  afterwards 
at  Harrow,  where  he  met  Manning,  later  Cardinal,  always 
his  cordial  friend.  He  went  up  to  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, in  lo2o,  and  there  read  so  discursively  as  to  win 
no  academic  honors.  Spanish  literature  particularly  at- 
tracted him  aiid  he  became  the  proprietor  and  editor  of 
The  Translator.  His  tutor,  Julius  Hare,  influenced  him 
greatly,  but  the  greatest  personal  factor  in  his  university 
life  was  the  Apostles'  Club  with  its  brilliant  membership 
of  Sterling,  F.  D.  Maurice,  Tennyson,  Hallam,  and 
Trench's  bosom  friend,  the  philologian,  John  M.  Kemble. 
The  early  part  at  least  of  Trench's  life  in  Cambridge 
was  occupied  with  a  gloomy  struggle  for  the  solution  of 
the  mystery  of  human  life.  That  this  difficulty  was  removed 
by  his  growing  Christian  faith  may  be  seen  in  the  auto- 
biographic Ode  to  Poetry.  In  1829  he  was  graduated 
A.  M.,  left  Cambridge  for  travel  in  Spain,  and  with  Kemble 
joined  in  the  ill-fated  patriot  expedition  of  Torrijo,  whether 

266 


LIFE    OF   THE   AUTHOR 

because  of  Kemble's  enthusiasm  or  of  some  soldier  stirrings 
in  his  own  heart  is  uncertain,  for  he  studiously  attempted 
to  conceal  this  incident  in  later  years. 

He  took  deacon's  orders  in  the  Church  of  England  in 
1832,  being  settled  at  Norwich;  a  year  afterwards  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  High  Church  party  by  becoming  vicar 
to  Rose  at  Hadleigh,  in  Suffolk,  whence,  after  a  year  in 
Italy  for  his  health,  he  went  to  Cudbridge,  Hants,  in  1835. 
He  took  no  thought  of  church  politics  himself,  but  Samuel 
Wilberforce  made  him  his  curate  in  1841,  he  was  special 
preacher  at  Cambridge  in  1843  and  Hulsean  lecturer  in 
1845  and  1846,  received  the  living  of  Itchenstoke  in  1844, 
and  in  1846  was  elected  professor  of  divinity  at  King's 
College,  London,  where  he  renewed  his  friendship  with 
F.  D.  Maurice.  This  chair  was  changed  in  1854  to  one  of 
New  Testament  exegesis,  and  in  1858  he  became  dean  of 
Westminster,  a  post  in  which  he  laid  the  splendid  founda- 
tions of  Dean  Stanley's  work  for  workingmen.  All  this 
time  he  seems  to  have  been  unambitious  and  quite  content 
with  his  lot.  Both  Wilberforce  and  Monckton  Milnes,  how- 
ever, were  scheming  for  his  advancement  in  the  Church,  and 
the  story  is  told  that  Milnes,  upon  the  death  of  the  bishop 
of  Gloucester  and  Bristol,  wrote  to  the  Times  that  Trench 
had  been  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  descanted  upon  his 
qualifications, — in  the  hope  of  forcing  the  premier's  hand.' 
The  ruse  was  unsuccessful,  if  ever  attempted.  Trench  was 
not  appointed  and  the  report  was  spread  that  he  had  been 
nominated,  but  that  the  nomination  was  of  necessity  with- 
drawn, since  it  had  been  gazetted  before  it  received  the 
formal  approval  of  the  Queen.  But  on  Whately's  death  in 
1863,  Trench  was  named  bishop  of  Dublin,  and  on  January 
1,   1864,  was  consecrated. 

This  appointment  was  none  too  popular.     Trench's  rec- 
ord, his  erudition,  his  patristic  knowledge,  his  repute  as  a 

267 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

poet,  his  popularity  as  a  philologist,  gave  no  evidence  of 
any  fitness  for  this  peculiarly  trying  task;  and  a  constitu- 
tional shyness  and  reserve  seemed  disqualifications,  as  did 
his  small  experience  as  an  administrator.  But  Trench 
showed  unusual  ability,  if  not  force  and  power,  as  leader 
of  the  fight  agamst  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  Church. 
He  opposed  this  measure  with  quiet  dignity,  although  his  own 
trick  of  gloomy  foreboding  told  him,  what  Whately's  worldly 
wisdom  had  seen  thirty  years  before,  that  disestablishment 
was  inevitable.  Less  heroic  were  the  possibilities  of  the 
no  less  difficult  years  that  followed  disestablishment,  in 
which  Trench  successfully  withstood  the  efforts  of  the  Low 
Church  majority  in  Ireland  to  alter  service  and  government 
of  the  now  independent  body.  His  place  as  a  leader  in  the 
Irish  Church  for  twenty  years  was  little  appreciated  in 
England  during  his  life  time;  indeed,  to  a  certain  degree, 
he  was  forgotten  there.  But  as  time  goes  his  work  bulks 
larger  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  century ;  and  in  the 
study  of  his  character  nothing  is  more  illuminating  than 
this  period,  in  which  it  was  shown  that  he  was  more  than 
the  mere  literary  dean  or  academic  bishop,  and  that  only  the 
occasion  was  necessary  to  make  him  the  man  of  affairs. 
An  accident  on  the  Irish  Channel  boat  in  November,  1875, 
fractured  both  his  knees  and  seriously  affected  his  health. 
He  resigned  from  his  bishopric  in  1884,  and  died  in  Lon- 
don at  23  Eton  Square  on  March  28,  1886.  He  was  buried 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  the  very  scene  of  his  own  labors 
for  workingmen. 

Trench  married  in  May,  1832,  his  cousin  Frances  Mary 
Trench.  They  had  eleven  children;  two  of  the  sons  died 
in  boyhood — a  great  blow  to  their  father,  whose  melancholy 
was  aggravated  by  this  sorrow;  another,  Frederick  Charles 
Trench  (1837-94),  was  an  able  and  brilliant  soldier  and 
diplomat,  stationed  first  in  India  and  then  in  the  diplomatic 

268 


LIFE    OF   THE    AUTHOR 

corps  in  Russia,  and  the  author  of  expert  studies  on  cavalry- 
tactics,  the  Indian  question,  etc. 

Personally  Trench  was  a  striking  looking  man,  with  a 
grim,  sad  face  bearing  the  trace  of  his  morbid  nature,  and 
with  a  splendid  trumpet-like  voice,  very  effective  in 
reading  the  Church  service,  but  breaking  into  a  great  indis- 
tinct roar  in  the  excitement  of  his  preaching.  His  fastidi- 
ousness was  almost  painful,  not  only  in  his  discriminating 
exegesis  of  the  synonyms  of  the  New  Testament  and  in 
certain  over-niceties  in  the  Study  of  Words,  but  in  the 
lecture-room,  where,  says  one  of  his  pupils,  *  he  used  to 
make  up  each  sentence  and  say  it  to  himself  silently  with 
his  lips  before  uttering  it.'  But,  just  as  his  work  in  Ire- 
land proved  that  he  was  man  of  affairs  as  well  as  scholar, 
it  is  equally  evident  that  he  was  an  idealist  and  a  deeply 
spiritual  nature,  and  not  merel}'-  a  man  of  rare  erudition. 
In  the  Study  of  Words  with  its  wide  range  of  topics  alluded 
to,  practically  the  only  philosophy  towards  which  he  is 
unsj^mpathetic  is  rationalism  or  materialism — its  preachers 
he  calls  *  false  prophets  ' ;  dnd,  on  the  other  side,  the  only- 
criticism  that  the  present  day  student  of  words  would  offer 
of  Trench's  discussion  of  words  is  a  proneness  to  over- 
spiritualize  his  material. 


269 


STORY     OF    THE     BOOK 

The  Study  of  Words  is  doubtless  Trench's  most  popular 
bookj  though  he  would  probably  have  ranked  his  works  in 
divinity  and  theology  above  it;  although  the  literary  critic 
would  prefer  his  poetical  to  his  prose  style ;  and  though  the 
modern  student  of  language  sees  more  actual  value  in 
Trench's  lexical  studies  than  in  this  volume  of  lectures. 

History  and  literary  criticism^  notably  translation^  were 
his  first  essay,  as  the  contents  of  the  Translator  show.  The 
main  titles  in  this  field  are  Sacred  Latin  Poetry,  184-9, 
2.  ed.  1864;  Life's  a  Dream,  from  the  Spanish  of  Calderon, 
1856,  new  ed.  1880;  Gustavus  Adolphus,  1865,  2.  ed.  1872; 
Household  Book  of  English  Poetry,  1868,  4.  ed.  1888; 
Plutarch :  his  Life,  his  Lives  and  his  Morals,  Four  Lectures, 
1873,  2.  ed.  1888;  and  Lectures  on  Medieval  Church  His- 
tory, 1877:,  2.  ed.  1879.  These  are  all  marked  by  deep 
erudition  and  good  taste. 

His  poetry  was  confined  to  his  earlier  period,  and  in 
later  years  it  is  conceivable  that  his  reserve  and  constitu- 
tional frigidity  were  accentuated  by  his  abstention  from 
poetic  expression.  Justin  Martyr,  1835;  Sabbation,  1838; 
Poems  from  Eastern  Sources,  1842;  Genoveva,  1851;  Alma, 
1855;  Poems  Collected  Anew,  1865,  9-  ed.  1888;  and 
Poems,  new  edition,  2  volumes,  1885,  is  the  bibliographical 
outline  of  his  graceful  and  technically  excellent  verse, 
which  reaches  its  highest  in  the  sonnet  form,  and  has  for 
its  main  vice  a  complete  absence  of  humor  which  makes 
him  at  his  worst  more  banal  than  his  master,  Wordsworth. 
Dr.  Garnett  says  rather  cynically  that  he  is  unoriginal,  but 
remembering  his  period  none  the  worse  for  that.  Justin 
Martyr  seems  to  have  been  scarcely  less  a  subjective  ex- 

270 


STORY   OF   THE   BOOK 

pression  of  the  poet's  spiritual  experience  than  the  Ode  to 
Poetry;  but  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers  sees  in  it  and  the  Poems 
from  Eastern  Sources  a  remarkable  objective  power  of 
identification  with  remote  characters, — in  brief,  attributes 
to  him  some  of  the  dramatic  verity  of  Browning's  lyrics. 
Myers  shows  clearly  that  the  poet's  message  is  "  elevation 
through  sorrow." 

There  is  no  mark  of  school  or  brand  of  particular  dogma 
in  Trench's  divinity  and  theology,  whose  illuminating  and 
truly  catholic  quality  is  due  to  thorough  knowledge  of  Ger- 
man theological  thought  interpreted  in  the  light  of  his  wide 
patristic  reading.  The  most  valuable  of  his  books  in  divin- 
ity are  the  Notes  on  the  Parables,  1841,  15.  ed.  1886,  and 
Notes  on  Miracles,  1846,  13.  ed.  1886.  The  Exposition  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Drawn  from  St.  Augustine, 
1844,  4.  ed.  1888  was  typical  of  Trench's  command  of  the 
Fathers;  the  Hulsean  Lectures  on  the  Fitness  of  Holy 
Scripture  for  unfolding  the  Spiritual  Life  of  Men,  5.  ed. 
1880,  and  the  Commentary  on  the  Epistles  to  the  Seven 
Churches,  1861,  4.  ed.  1888,  and  the  Studies  in  the  Gos- 
pels, 1867,  5.  ed.  1888,  should  also  be  mentioned. 

The  study  of  New  Testament  synonyms  lies  half  with 
Trench's  divinity  and  half  with  his  philology,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  letter  urging  a  revision  of  the 
version  of  the  New  Testament.  In  English  philology 
Trench  was  no  less  erudite  and  no  more  original  than  in  his 
theology,  and  thus  escaped  many  of  the  freakish  errors  of 
Home  Tooke  or  others  of  his  too  audacious  predecessors. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  the  modern  philologist  the  lack 
of  the  sane  restraint  of  phonetic  law  is  Trench's  greatest 
fault;  but  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  severe  develop- 
ment of  the  principle  of  the  invariability  of  phonetic  law  is 
later  than  Trench's  prime, — and  on  the  other  hand  that  the 
present  school  overstresses  the   fundamental  principles  of 

271 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

phonics  at  the  expense  of  semantics  or  semasiology,  the 
science  of  the  evolution  of  the  derived  meanings  of  words. 
And  it  is  in  the  latter  province,  the  fascinating  field  of  the 
curiosities  of  lexicography  that  our  present  book  falls  as 
well  as  English  Past  and  Present:  Five  Lectures,  1855, 
14'.  ed.,  revised  by  A.  L.  Mayhew,  1889.  Apart  from  five 
lectures  On  the  Lessons  in  Proverbs,  1853,  7.  ed.  1888,  the 
other  studies  are  purely  lexicographical,  including  the 
Select  Glossary  of  English  Words,  Used  Formerly  in 
Senses  Different  from  their  Present,  1859,  7.  ed.,  revised  by 
A.  L.  Mayhew,  1890,  and  the  pamphlet  On  some  Defi- 
ciencies in  our  English  Dictionaries,  1857,  2.  ed.  I860, 
which  was  the  direct  stimulus  to  the  New  Oxford  Dic- 
tionary. 

On  the  Study  of  Words  was  first  printed  in  1851,  consist- 
ing then  of  five  lectures;  in  1852  a  second  edition  appeared 
with  an  additional  lecture  (the  fifth  in  this  volume)  ;  and 
the  lecture  on  the  poetry  in  words  was  inserted  soon  after- 
wards. To  trace  the  changes  made  in  this  little  book  would 
be  per  se  an  interesting  collation ;  suffice  it  to  say  here  that 
no  two  of  the  twenty-two  editions  which  appeared  during 
the  author's  life  are  verbally  identical.  Trench  conscien- 
tiously insisted  that  none  of  his  books  should  be  electro- 
typed  lest  he  have  excuse  to  leave  an  early  and  inferior  text 
unchanged,  and  the  Study  of  Words  has  been  revised, 
pruned,  augmented,  and  constantly  emended  in  such  minor 
points  as  the  turn  of  a  phrase,  the  punctuation  of  a  sen- 
tence, or  the  division  of  a  paragraph. 

All  seven  lectures  were  delivered  at  the  Diocesan  Train- 
ing School  at  Winchester  in  1851,  when  Trench  held  the 
living  of  Itchenstoke  near  Winchester.  Although  later  re- 
visions changed  the  book  considerably,  it  is  still  a  book  of 
lectures,  and  even  the  copious  footnotes,  though  making  it 
less  lecture-like,  do  not  make  it  any  the  less  a  book  for  a 

272 


STORY    OF   THE    BOOK 

diocesan  training  school.  That  is.  Trench  would  have  cast 
it  into  different  form  had  he  intended  it  for  a  general  hand- 
book, or  even  for  lectures  for  a  more  general  audience;  and 
to  judge  the  book  from  the  exigencies  of  any  other  demand 
would  be  as  ill  considered  as  to  take  Quintilian's  Tenth  Book 
out  of  its  setting  in  his  instructions  to  orators  as  to  their 
reading,  and  to  make  that  famous  essay  a  mere  study  in 
literary  criticism.  Which  is  to  say  that  much  of  the  charm 
and  point  of  the  book  will  be  lost  if  it  be  not  treated  as  the 
spoken  word,  and  if  it  be  read  without  keeping  in  mind  the 
author's  personality. 


273 


NOTES     ON     THE     TEXT 

5  Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  admiration.  Apparently 
Tacitus's  phrase  omne  ignotum  pro  mirifico  in  English 
dress. 

7     Fossil  poetry.     In  the  essay  called  The  Poet. 

9  Poet.  The  Greek  word  is  literally  maker,  as  is  the 
Scotch. 

Dilapidated.  The  figure  of  the  Latin  word  is  not  that  of 
a  house  in  ruins,  but  of  money  flung  away,  '  played  ducks 
and  drakes  with.'  The  other  explanation  is  impossible, 
since  the  preposition  is  not  compounded  with  the  noun  stem 
(so  that  it  would  mean  ruined)  but  with  the  derived  verb_, 
which  means  to  stone  or  to  pelt.  The  true  is  the  more 
picturesque  meaning. 

1 1  '  Franks  *  or  the  free.  Franks  is  now  supposed  to 
be  derived  from  a  word  for  javelin  or  spear,  cognate  with 
Old  English  franca,  just  as  the  Saxons  were  so  named  be- 
cause of  their  knives,  seax  in  Old  English.  Hence  the 
use  of  frank  to  mean  free  is  derived  from  the  name 
of  this  conquering  tribe,  not  the  tribe  from  the  adjec- 
tive; moreover,  frank  and  free  have  no  etymological  con- 
nection. 

11  Slave.  Both  Gibbon  and  Trench  are  wrong  in  sug- 
gesting that  the  glorious  name  of  Slave  has  in  it  any  root 
idea  of  glory;  it  is  probably  a  mere  local  name. 

13  Urang  Utang  theory.  Each  theory  of  the  origin  of 
language  has  been  hit  off  by  its  opponents  with  a  derisive 
phrase;  thus  the  inter jective  theory,  by  which  primeval 
man  first  spoke  in  exclamations  is  called  the  *  ah-ha  '  theory ; 
the  theory  that  the  first  sounds  made  by  man  are  explicable 
as  the  mere  reflex  of  impressions  on  him  is  called  the  '  ding 

274 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

dong '  theory,  as  if  man,  like  a  bell  gave  out  a  sound  when 
struck ;  and  the  mimetic  hypothesis,  in  accordance  with  which 
the  objects  of  the  senses  were  named  by  primal  man,  as 
by  his  present  type,  the  child  learning  to  talk,  with  names 
imitating  the  sounds  made  by  the  object,  has  been  ridiculed 
under  the  name  of  the  '  bow-wow  '  theory,  as  if  the  dog 
were  originally  called  a  *  bow-wow.'  So  too  the  theory  of 
Noire,  adapted  in  part  by  Max  Miiller,  that  language  origi- 
nated in  the  rhythmic  cries  of  early  communities  at  their 
communal  tasks  is  called  the  *  yo-heave-ho  '  theory.     The 

*  urang  utang  '  theory  is  explained  in  the  text ;  Archbishop 
Trench's  view  that  the  characterization  is  a  happy  one 
would  scarcely  be  taken  by  the  modern  critic,  who  would 
compare  it  in  point  of  infelicity  with  that  criticism  of  the 
Darwinian    theory  which   consisted    in   summing   it   up    as 

*  descent  from  monkeys.'  The  '  urang  utang  '  theory  comes 
closer  to  being  the  consensus  of  present  thought  than  any 
other,  perhaps. 

1 3  Greek  language  has  one  word,  namely  Xoyos.  This 
notion  of  the  identity  of  thought  and  language  is  the  thesis 
of  Max  Miiller's  Science  of  Thought  and  Science  of  Lan- 
guage. Moncaem  in  his  L'Origine  de  la  Pensee  et  de  la 
Parole  puts  it  epigrammatically :  *  Thought  is  language 
minus  sound;  language  is  not  thought  plus  sound.'  This 
position  is  attacked  in  Whitney's  Language  and  the  Study 
of  Language.  The  most  notable  argument  against  it  is 
such  cases  as  those  of  Laura  Bridgeman  and  Helen  Keller. 

Not  with  names  hut  with  the  power  of  naming.  This 
theory,  escaping  the  extreme  hypothesis  that  man's  very 
vocabulary  was  divinely  given  to  him,  was  enunciated  in 
the  fourth  century  by  that  orthodox  theologian  and  subtle 
dialectician,  St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa. 

15  He  cannot  do  otherwise.  Renan's  idea  that  language 
is  an  innate  faculty  is  styled  nativism  and  was  held  by  Wil- 

275 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

helm  von  Humboldt  (see  the  quotation  from  him  in  Trench's 
note  60)^  Max  Miiller,  Lazarus  and  Steinthal.  The  con- 
trary theory  of  empiricism,  that  is  of  language  as  the 
product  of  experience  and  outward  circumstance,  is  more 
plausible  in  view  of  modern  evolutionary  notions;  W.  D. 
Whitney,  Taylor,  Madvig  and  Regnaud  have  been  its  lead- 
ing defenders.  The  matter  is  entertainingly  treated  in 
Farrar's  Origin  of  Language,  the  argument  against  inneity 
being  strongly  stated  in  Chapter  1. 

16  Moffat,  Robert  (1795-1883),  a  Scotch  gardener,  one 
of  the  first  great  missionaries  to  Africa,  and  father-in-law 
of  David  Livingstone.  He  wrote  a  grammar  and  spelling- 
book  for  the  Bechuana  language,  into  which  he  translated 
the  Bible. 

17  Dohrizhoffer,  Martin  (1717-91)-  His  Historia  de 
Abiponibus,  equestri  bellicosaque  Paraguarice  natione,  in 
three  volumes,  1783,  does  not  rank  as  a  first  authority,  as 
much  of  the  information  in  it  is  second  hand.  The  book 
owes  most  of  its  fame  to  the  exquisite  English  version  made 
in  1822  by  Sara  Coleridge  to  accompany  the  Tale  of  Para- 
guay by  her  uncle,  Robert  Southey.  In  this  poem  occur 
the  famous  lines  in  which  the  joy  of  the  Jesuit  priest  is 
imagined,  if 

'  He  could  in  Merlin's  glass  have  seen 
By  whom  his  tomes  to  speak  our  tongue  were  taught/ 

17  Krapf,  Johann  Ludwig  (1810-81),  a  German  mis- 
sionary sent  to  British  East  Africa  by  the  English  Church 
Missionary  Society.  He  was  a  great  explorer  and  one  of 
the  foremost  authorities  on  African  philology,  made  partial 
translations  of  the  Bible  into  Swahili  and  other  native 
tongues,  and  wrote  dictionaries  and  grammars  which  are 
still  standard. 

276 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

18  The  fragments  of  a  broken  sceptre,  etc.  The  argu- 
ment here  summed  up  is  met  by  Farrar  in  his  Origin  of 
Language,  p.  28^  as  follows:  Though  many  existing  lan- 
guages^ and  even  those  of  some  savage  nations  are  but 
"  degraded  and  decaying  fragments  of  nobler  formations^" 
yet  there  are  proofs  as  decisive  that  they  rose  to  gradual 
perfection^  as  that  they  subsequently  fell  from  perfection 
to  decay. 

20  Arians.  The  followers  of  Arius^  presbyter  of  Alex- 
andria (c.  256-S36),  held  that  Christ  was  similar  in  nature 
(homoiousion)  to  God  the  Father,  and  not  of  identical 
nature  (homoousion).  This  heresy,  which  came  near  deny- 
ing the  divinity  of  Christ  and  was  at  least  distinctly  anti- 
Trinitarian,  spread  among  the  Goths  and  in  the  East,  was 
condemned  in  325  by  the  Council  of  Nice. 

The  Nestorians  denied  the  applicability  of  the  title  of 
*  theotokos  '  or  Mother  of  God  to  Mary,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  incongruous  with  the  divinity  of  Christ  that  He  be  born 
of  a  woman ;  hence  they  believed  that  the  divine  and  human 
natures  of  Christ  are  distinct  and  that  any  union  between 
them  is  merely  moral  and  spiritual,  not  personal  and  actual 
as  is  the  orthodox  belief. 

21  Nirvana.  See  the  excellent  article  in  the  New  Inter- 
national Encyclopaedia. 

22  Pillars  of  Hercules,  the  Greek  name  for  Gibraltar 
and  the  opposite  African  promontory  of  Abyla,  conceived 
to  be  the  limits  of  the  civilized  world.  The  Greeks  took 
the  name  from  the  Phoenicians,  who  called  the  straits  the 
pillars  of  Melkarth;  Melkarth  was  the  guardian  of  Tyre, 
a  god  of  the  sun,  of  navigation,  and  of  travel,  identified  by 
the  Greeks  with  Hercules,  patron  of  travelers,  whose  very 
name  in  the  Greek  form,  Herakles,  may  have  been  derived 
from  Melkarth  or  Melkar,  read  backwards,  as  it  might  have 
been  since  the  Phoenicians  wrote  from  right  to  left. 

277 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

23  Boiardo,  Matteo  Maria,  Count  of  Scandiano  (c. 
1434-1494).  The  poem  referred  to  is  Orlando  Innamorato 
written  in  I486,  published  in  1495,  and  frequently  sup- 
plemented and  rewritten  by  various  Italian  poets  of  the 
l6th  century;  its  relationship  with  Ariosto's  epic  is  treated 
in  Panizzi's  Boiardo,  Orlando  Innamorato;  Ariosto,  Orlando 
Furioso  in  nine  volumes,  1830,  a  book  with  which  Trench 
was  probably  familiar. 

24  Naomi.     See  Ruth  1 :  20. 

Gaunt  is  a  mere  Anglicized  form  of  Ghent,  John's  birth- 
place. 

26  Philadelphus  does  not,  however,  mean  '  lover  of  his 
brother,'  but '  lover  of  his  sister ';  Ptolemy  II.  was  the  fond 
husband  of  his  own  sister  Arsinoe. 

27  Dominicans  .  .  .  .  '  Domini  canes.*  Hence  the  arms 
of  the  order  is  a  dog  holding  a  blazing  torch. 

28  Valerius,  Salvius,  Secundus.  The  root  ideas  in  these 
three  names  are  respectively  health,  safety  and  favouring 
fortune. 

Atrius  Umber,  connecting  the  first  word  with  ater,  black, 
gloomy,  and  the  second  with  umbra,  shade. 

29  Segesta,  however,  may  be  merely  another  form  of 
Egesta,  the  initial  s  having  dropped  in  Greek  without  even 
leaving  the  rough  breathing  (or  h)  as  it  commonly  does. 

29  Epidamnus  in  Platus's  Mencechmi  is  collocated 
with  damnum  (line  270). 

Maleventum  in  Greek  meant  nothing  worse  than  '  rich 
in  orchards,'  but  transliterated  into  Latin  it  spelled  '  ill-come ' 
and  so  was  changed  to  Beneventum,  *  welcome.'  This  and 
the  preceding  instances  of  the  change  of  a  name  because 
of  evil  omen  were  commonly  explained  by  the  ancients  on 
the  strange  and  entirely  untrue  principle  of  lucus  a  non 
lucendo,  that  is  of  names  applied  because  they  did  not  fit, 
as  if  lucus,  the  word  for  '  grove,'  were  derived  from  lux, 

278 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

light,  because  a  grove  is  not  light,  or,  an  actual  instance  of 
euphemism,  the  Fates  were  called  Parcae,  the  Sparers,  be- 
cause they  did  not  spare. 

Vixerunt.  The  use  is  much  commoner  and  more  general 
than  the  single  instance  here  given  would  seem  to  show, 
being  a  commonplace  of  Roman  sepulchral  inscriptions, 
where  vbci  or  vixit  means  *  lived  '  in  the  sense  of  '  is  dead/ 

30  Jesus,  the  Greek  form  of  Joshua  (See  Hebrews  4: 
8),  means  '  God  is  salvation.'  Ahram  is  supposed  to  signify 
*a  high  father,'  Abraham  'father  of  a  multitude';  Sarai 
may  mean  '  contentious  '  and  Sarah,  '  a  princess  ' ;  Hoshea 
is  *  salvation,'  Joshua,  '  Jehovah  is  salvation  ' ;  Israel,  a 
soldier    of    God,'    Jacob,    '  supplanter ' ;    Simon,    possibly 

*  hearkening,'  and  Peter,  '  rock.' 

31  'False  prophet.*      Hobbes   in   the  Leviathan   says: 

*  Words  are  wise  men's  counters — they  do  not  reckon  by 
them — but  they  are  the  money  of  fools.'  Hobbes  is  one  of 
the  '  false  prophets  '  in  Trench's  eyes  as  the  first  great 
English  rationalist. 

33  Moliere.  Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme,  acte  2,  scene 
4,  179,  *  Par  ma  foi!  II  y  a  plus  de  quarante  ans  que  je 
dis  de  la  prose  sans  que  j'en  susse  rien.' 

34  Pecore,  cavalloni.  A  like  bold  figure  is  recorded  in 
one  of  Tennyson's  letters :  '  I  have  known  an  old  fish-wife, 
who  had  lost  two  sons  at  sea,  clench  her  fist  at  the  advancing 
tide  on  a  stormy  day  and  cry  out — "  Ay !  roar,  do !  how  I 
hates  to  see  thee  show  thy  white  teeth !  "  ' 

37  Desultor.  The  meaning  of  the  word  is  well  shown 
in  Seneca  (the  elder),  Suasorice,  1.  7j,  where  the  Dellius  to 
whom  Horace  addressed  the  third  ode  of  the  second  book 
is  called  desultor  bellorum  civilium  as  having  thrice  changed 
his  allegiance  in  the  civil  wars. 

Caprices.  The  etymology  here  given  is  uncertain,  but  is 
the  most  likely  of  those  proposed. 

279 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

38  Albion,  like  *  Alps  '  is  supposed  to  be  from  a  Celtic 
root  meaning  white. 

39  Morea  .  .  .  more.  The  objector  seems  to  be  Fall- 
merayer^  whose  work  is  mentioned  in  Trench's  note. 

Florida.  Besides  the  explanation  given  in  the  text  the 
Spanish  historian  Herrera  gives  another,  namely  that  Ponce 
de  Leon  called  the  peninsula  so  because  he  came  to  it  on 
Easter  Day  (March  27,  1513),  which  the  Spanish  call 
'  Pascua  de  Flores  '  or  '  Pascua  Florida.'  The  text  is  in- 
correct in  saying  that  *  the  first  Spanish  discoverers  of 
Florida  gave  it  this  name.  Ponce  de  Leon  gave  it  the 
name  in  1513;  the  Spanish  had  mapped  the  coast  before 
November,  1502,  as  John  Fiske  shows  conclusively  in  The 
Discovery  of  America,  vol.  2,  p.  76. 

40  Port  Natal,  now  called  Natal,  was  discovered  by 
Vasco  da  Gama  in  1497.  La  Navidad  was  the  name  given 
by  Columbus  to  the  fort  he  built  in  Hayti  on  a  harbour 
discovered  on  Christmas  Day,  1492.  So  continually  did 
the  Portuguese  and  Spanish  name  their  discoveries  after 
the  saint  upon  whose  day  the  discovery  was  made  that  it  is 
often  possible  to  learn  the  exact  day  of  a  discovery  by  this 
very  means.  La  Navidad,  for  instance,  referring  either  to 
St.  John's  Day,  June  24th,  or  to  Christmas.  Thus,  the 
Bay  of  Honduras  was  called  Baia  de  Navidad  by  Pinzon 
and  Solis,  who  sailed  from  the  Canaries  on  May  25th, 
1497;  hence  the  date  of  discovery  is  set  at  June  24th. 

41  '  Golden  rain.'    Goldregen. 

42  Squirrel,  a  Latin  diminutive  of  sciurus,  Greek  a-KiovpoSy 
'  shadow-tailed.' 

46  Crocodile.  The  etymology  of  the  word  is  uncertain, 
but  the  early  Greek  use,  applying  it  to  lizards  in  general, 
shows  that  this  popular  etymology,  saffron  (or  crocus) 
fearing,  can  not  be  correct.  The  analogy  of  *  alligator  ' 
from  the  Spanish  *  el  lagarto,'  the  lizard,  is  interesting. 

280 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

Sword-side  and  .  .  .  spindle-side.  Trench  seems  igno- 
rant of  the  similar  usage  in  English  of  spear-side  (or  spear- 
half)   and  distafF-side,  distaff-half,  or  spindle-side. 

47  '  Gottesacker/  The  figure  in  the  word  we  have  kept 
for  burial-ground  is  no  less  spiritually  significant ;  *  ceme- 
tery '  is  from  Greek  KOL/xrjTrjpiovy  a  sleeping  place,  first  used 
by  ecclesiastical  authors  of  a  graveyard. 

54  Maudlin.  This,  it  is  to  be  noted,  is  an  early  English 
pronunciation  of  Magdalen,  no  doubt  influenced  by  French 
Madeleine;  the  name  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  is  still 
so  pronounced. 

55  Retaliation  does  not  mean  *  to  render  again  as  much 
as  we  have  received  '  but  '  to  repay  in  kind  ' ;  talis,  '  such/ 
the  root  word  being  correlative  with  the  word  quality.  *  Tit 
for  tat '  is  then  a  vernacular  equivalent  and  exemplifies  the 
altered  usage  only  of  repaying  ill  in  kind. 

5Q  Retract.  Trench  here  much  overstates  the  case.  In 
classic  Latin,  Cicero,  for  example,  retracto  was  used  to 
mean  '  withdraw  '  as  well  as  '  reconsider,'  the  inseparable 
prefix  re-  signifying  *  back  '  as  well  as  *  again.'  In  Vergil, 
Mneid  12:  10,  the  verb  is  used  exactly  in  the  modern 
English  sense.  Reconsidering  is  therefore  no  more  a  pri- 
mary meaning  of  the  word  than  is  withdrawal. 

58  '  False  prophets/  alluding  to  the  theory,  apparently 
pretty  commonly  accepted  now,  and  evidently  true  at  least 
of  some  sorts  of  pain,  notably  those  produced  by  temper- 
ature, that  the  stimulus  producing  pleasure  differs  only  in 
quantity  or  intensity  from  that  resulting  in  pain.  It  is 
Fechner,  the  founder  of  the  monistic  doctrine  of  psycho- 
physics,  who  *'  defends  the  disagreeable  as  of  direct  aes- 
thetic value,  because  it  augments  pleasure  through  con- 
trast." The  materialistic  basis  of  this  psychological  theory 
is  what  prompts  Trench  to  call  its  upholders  "  false 
prophets,"  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  evolutionary  doctrine 

281 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

that  pain  in  its  origin  is  a  physical  or  nervous  reflex  making 
for  assured  existence.  This  latter  theory  is  here  stated  in 
its  hedonistic  form. 

59  Plague  .  .  .  stroke.  The  argument  here  is  falla- 
cious. '  Plaga  '  in  Latin  does  mean  '  stroke/  but  with  no 
such  connotation  as  in  our  *  stroke  of  God/  and  with  no 
implication  of  an  agent,  divine  or  otherwise,  who  sends  the 
stroke;  blow,  wound,  misfortune,  disaster,  loss  are  the  derived 
and  frequent  meanings  in  Latin.  Here,  as  often  in  this 
chapter  there  is,  to  the  lay  mind  at  least,  a  straining  after 
ethical  meanings  in  words.  To  quote  Trench  himself  (Lec- 
ture 4),  we  have  no  right  to  turn  an  etymology  into  an 
argument. 

62  Humanities.  Probably  this  term  originated  as  a 
contrast  to  divinity,  meaning  the  study  of  philology,  that 
is  literature  and  language  yer  se,  opposed  to  theology; 
literoB  humanoe  (or  humaniores)  contrasted  with  literce 
divincBj  thus  the  word  grows  out  of  the  difference  between 
human  and  divine.  The  student  of  the  humanities,  in  the 
early  Renaissance  especially,  is  styled  a  humanist.  The  idea 
of  humanizing  is  the  secondary  and  not  the  primary  one, 
therefore,  and  the  Archbishop's  explanation  is  incorrect. 
See  Marsh,  Lectures  on  the  English  Language,  lecture  3. 

66  Christus  .  .  .  Chrestus.  Tertullian  in  his  Apology 
(early  in  the  second  century)  meets  this  sneer  by  afi'ecting 
to  know  only  the  early  and  better  meaning'  of  xPW^^'^i 
he  says,  chap,  iii,  about  the  middle:  Sed  et  cum  perperam 
Chrestianus  pronuntiatur  a  vobis  (nam  nee  nominis  certa 
est  notitia  penes  vos),  de  suavitate  vel  benignitate  composi- 
tum  est.  [But  even  if  you  incorrectly  call  us  Chrestian 
for  Christian — for  you  are  so  ignorant  of  us  that  you  don't 
know  quite  certainly  our  name — the  word  you  use  expresses 
gentleness  or  goodness.] 

73  Ennui.  The  original  signification  of  the  word  was 
282 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

simply  annoyance ;  indeed  '  ennui '  and  *  annoy  '  are  merely 
the  different  forms  taken  in  French  and  English  by  the 
Latin  phrase  in   odio,   '  in   hate,'  *  offensive,'   '  distasteful,' 

*  unpleasant.'  The  explanation  given  by  Littre  and  re- 
peated in  the  text  is  then  incorrect. 

79  Club.  The  adoption  of  the  word  '  sport '  in  both 
German  and  French  is  another  case  in  point.  In  Germany 
one  of  the  most  fin  de   siecle  of  greetings  is  the  absurd 

*  Sports  Griiss.'  '  Bifteck  '  in  French  is  an  instance  of  the 
adoption  of  an  English  name  for  a  very  un-French  thing, 
and  the  use  in  French  of  the  English  word  '  home  '  is  also 
to  be  noticed. 

86  '  King/    '  Queen  '  too  is  often  a  Saxon  word. 

The  divisions  of  time.  This  is  true  of  '  year,'  *  month,' 
and    '  day.'      The    words    for   the  lesser   divisions,    '  hour,' 

*  minute  '  and  *  second  '  are  of  French  origin. 

Three  out  of  the  four  seasons.  The  exception  is  'autumn,' 
from  the  Norman  French,  in  place  of  which  the  word  *  fall,' 
of  Saxon  origin,  is  now  commonly  used  in  America  and  was 
once  sanctioned  by  literary  usage  in  England.  See  Trench's 
English  Past  and  Present,  lecture  5. 

Husband  is  sometimes  reckoned  as  of  Scandinavian  ori- 
gin, but  it  occurs  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  is  a  parallel  to  the 
Icelandic,  Swedish  and  Danish  forms,  rather  than  derived 
from  any  one  of  them. 

87  Plough.  In  these  lists  there  is  no  attempt  to  dis- 
tinguish between  different  *  native  '  elements ;  *  plough  '  is 
not  Anglo-Saxon  (save  in  the  sense  of  arable  land),  but 
Norse. 

87  Bere,  or  bear,  modern  English  '  barley,'  which  ety- 
mologically  is  '  bere-like,'  '  here  '  being  cognate  with  Latin 
far. 

Bacon  is  not  an  exception,  being  Old  French  and  not 
Anglo-Saxon.     The   French  word  in  turn   is   a  loan-word 

283 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

from  the  German  and  is  traceable  to  the  same  word  as 
English  '  back/  bacon  being  cut  from  the  back  and  sides ; 
it  is  probably  because  of  the  ultimately  German  origin  of 
the  word  that  the  misstatement  in  the  text  was  made. 

89  Before  the  migrations  began.  For  a  good  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  early  civilization  and  suggestions  as  to  its  loca- 
tion, all  based  on  such  a  comparison  of  common  words  in 
the  different  Aryan  languages,  see  Clark,  Manual  of  Lin- 
guistics,  pp.  xv-lxv. 

91  Heathen  .  .  .  heaths.  This  etymology  has  been 
doubted  because  of  the  resemblance  in  spelling  and  mean- 
ing to  the  Greek  word  iOvr)  (ethne)  or  c^vca  (ethnea), 
which  is  commonly  used  in  ecclesiastical  Greek  for  heathen, 
as  for  example  in  the  first  verse  of  the  second  Psalm,  which 
begins  IvarC  i(f>pva^av  eOvrj  (the  Latin  Cur  fremuer- 
unt  gentes).  But  the  resemblance  is  only  slight;  the  word 
occurs  in  Gothic  in  a  form  difficult  to  explain  as  a  Greek 
loan-word;  and  the  similarity  must  therefore  be  reckoned 
fortuitous.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  use  of  the  word 
was  influenced  by  the  Latin  pagani,  of  which  it  might  be  a 
translation  even. — The  reader  who  wishes  to  get  a  notion 
of  how  Trench  polished  and  turned  and  changed  his  sen- 
tences will  do  well  to  compare  the  dozen  lines  preceding 
this  as  they  are  found  in  the  text  with  the  form  given  in 
the  Century  Dictionary,  the  second  quotation  under  the  word 
'  pagan.* 

94  Cardinal.  The  more  matter-of-fact  explanation  of 
this  use  of  the  word  is  that  the  adjective  was  extended  in 
meaning  from  '  pertaining  to  a  hinge,'  and  '  pivotal,'  to 
*  important,'  '  principal,'  a  meaning  it  had  in  non-ecclesi- 
astical Latin  in  the  last  part  of  the  fourth  century ;  and  that 
this  high  rank  in  the  Roman  hierocracy  was  so-called  be- 
cause of  its  prominence.  Nothing  can  be  much  more  puz- 
zling in  tracing  the  meaning  of  a  word  than  this  question 

284 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

as  to  when  the  '  metaphor  '  began  to  *  f  ade^'  and  whether 
the  figure  was  forgotten  in  this  or  that  especial  case;  and 
the  difficulty  is  increased  when^  as  here,  there  are  quota- 
tions, bearing  on  the  use  of  the  word,  which  may  equally 
well  be  reckoned  to  prove  that  the  figure  was  still  alive  or 
be  held  to  show  only  an  attempt  to  revivify  and  recall  the 
long  forgotten  first  meaning. 

95  Legends,  The  stress  put  on  the  word  *  worthiness  ' 
in  the  definition  is  fallacious,  doubly  so,  indeed;  for  the 
Church  at  an  early  date  distinguished  between  Credenda, 
'  things  to  be  believed  '  and  Legenda,  '  things  to  be  read  ' ; 
a  contrast  which  suggests  no  great  worthiness  for  the 
legends ;  and  secondly  '  worthy  to  be  read  '  is  a  strained  and 
unfortunate  version  of  the  Latin  legenda,  which,  no  matter 
how  miscalled  in  grammars,  is  merely  a  future  passive  par- 
ticiple meaning  nothing  more  than  *  to  be  read,'  and  in  later 
Latin  *  readings,'  with  no  necessary  subaudition  of  worthi- 
ness or  duty. 

97  Maumetrye.  The  explanation  of  this  word  now  com- 
monly given  is  that  it  started  with  a  misconception,  being  de- 
rived from  *  maumet '  (for  'Mahomet'),  meaning  'idol,' 
because  of  the  belief  that  the  Moslems  were  idolaters.  This 
would  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  '  maumetry '  is 
exclusively  used  of  idolatry,  and  not  of  false  worship  in 
general. 

99  '  Cockatrice  '  seems  derived  from  *  crocodile,'  proba- 
bly in  some  one  of  its  mutilated  forms  such  as  *  cokodril,' 
and  in  its  early  English  use  meant  either  '  serpent '  or 
'  crocodile.'  Thanks  to  the  mere  sound  of  the  word  it  came 
to  mean  a  creature  hatched  by  a  serpent  from  a  cock's  egg ! 

Non-Semitic  .  .  .  Phoenicians.  The  Phoenicians  were 
once  considered  Hamitic,  because  of  some  resemblances  to 
the  Egyptian  civilization  (and  because  the  Biblical  account 
in  Genesis  10:  vs.  6  and  15,  make  Canaan  and  Sidon  the 

285 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

descendants  of  Ham),  but  modern  scholars,  almost  without 
exception  put  them  down  as  Semitic,  not  merely  because 
of  their  language  but  by  reason  of  their  religion  and  racial 
characteristics.  In  general,  it  is  considered  unsafe  to  argue 
that  a  nation  does  not  belong  racially  to  a  family  with  which 
it  has  a  common  language,  unless  there  is  historic  evidence, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  non- Aryan  Parthians  who  learned  Per- 
sian, that  the  nation  learned  the  language. 

101  Reformation.  'Deformation'  was  the  name  ap- 
plied by  the  Roman  Catholics  in  accordance  with  the  princi- 
ple here  suggested. 

105  Magnesia,  almost  certainly  the  district  in  Thrace 
and  not  that  in  Asia  Minor. 

Bayonet.  The  derivation  of  the  name  from  Bayonne  is 
now  pretty  thoroughly  established. 

Gauze  ,  .  .  Gaza.  This  etymology,  often  given  before 
and  since,  is  a  mere  guess  based  on  verbal  similarity,  as 
there  seems  to  be  nothing  to  connect  the  town  with  the  manu- 
facture of  the  cloth.  Perhaps  gauze  is  the  Persian  gazi, 
a  thin  cotton  cloth. 

106  '  Tobacco  *  .  .  .  .  Tabago.  Several  derivations 
equally  likely  have  been  suggested. 

'  Sterling '  may  be  a  formation  like  *  shilling,'  '  farthing,' 
*  penny  '  (earlier  '  pening  '),  but  the  meaning  of  the  root- 
syllable  '  ster-'  or  *  sterl-'  is  quite  unknown.  It  has  also 
been  suggested  that  the  name  is  due  to  the  stamping  on  an 
early  coin  of  the  figure  of  a  starling. 

107  Peony,  because  Apollo  Paean  was  a  god  of  healing 
and  the  plant  was  medicinal;  it  "still  has  some  repute  as 
a  nervine." 

108  Mithridates  is  of  double  interest  to  the  student  of 
words,  for  this  opponent  of  Rome,  who  died  in  63  b.  c. 
after  being  thrice  defeated  by  Roman  armies,  left  his  name 
as  a  synonym  of  antidote,  a  circumstance  due  to  the  fact 

286 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

that  he  had  so  drugged  himself  in  fear  of  being  poisoned 
that  his  attempt  at  suicide  by  taking  poison  was  unsuccess- 
ful; and  besides  this  he  was  a  great  linguist,  knowing 
twenty  languages  or  dialects.  Hence  his  name  became 
proverbial  and  by  a  natural  figure  was  used  as  the  title  of 
works  on  language,  as  for  instance  the  notable  book  by 
Johann  Christoph  Adelung  (1732-1806),  entitled  Mithri- 
dates:  a  General  History  of  Languages,  a  book  in  many 
respects  the  forerunner  of  Trench's  own  Study  of  Words. 

Donet  ....  Donatus.  Compare  what  has  been  said  in 
the  preceding  note  about  the  transference  of  the  proverbial 
name  of  a  person  to  a  book  dealing  with  the  person's  spe- 
cialty. This  same  phenomenon  supplies  the  hypothesis  by 
which  two  brilliant  modern  classical  scholars  have  explained 
the  incorrect  attribution,  respectively  of  a  Greek  sketch  of 
mythology  to  Apollodorus,  and  of  certain  Latin  grammatical 
works  to  Probus.  In  the  one  instance  Apollodorus  was  so 
famous  a  name  in  the  history  of  Greek  mythology  that  (it 
is  conjectured)  his  name  was  used  as  a  book  title  by  a  later 
author ;  at  a  still  later  time  this  book  title  was  misconstrued 
to  be  the  author's  name.  Such  misconstruction  was  partic- 
ularly common  in  the  early  Renaissance  when  Italian  schol- 
ars searched  eagerly  for  famous  works  of  the  classical 
period  and  recognized  as  such  manuscripts  with  the  slight- 
est external  (and  no  internal)  evidence.  So  too  a  later 
grammatical  treatise  is  supposed  to  have  borne  the  name  of 
Probus  as  a  title,  just  because  he  was  so  famous  a  gram- 
marian, and  later  to  have  been  reckoned  because  of  its  title 
as  one  of  the  actual  works  of  Probus. 

Tertulia  is  more  probably  from  the  Italian  *  tras- 
tullo,'  pastime,  delight,  than  from  Tertullian. 

109  Patch.  This  name  may  be  due  to  the  parti-coloured 
dress  of  the  fool.  If  it  is,  then  the  story  of  the  cardinal's 
jester  named  Patch  is  an  cetiological  myth,  that  is  one  manu- 

287 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

factured  to  give  an  explanation  of  a  name  or  custom;  such 
are  particularly  common  in  folk-lore  and  mythology.  Far- 
rar  in  his  Origin  of  Language  gives  an  excellent  example: 
Shotover  Hill,  4  miles  east  of  Oxford,  England,  actually 
owes  its  name  to  the  Anglicization  of  the  French  Chateau 
Vert ;  but  since  Shotover  sounds  English  the  story  has  grovrn 
up  that  Little  John,  or  another  of  Robin  Hood's  men,  per- 
formed the  feat  of  shooting  over  the  hill,  and  hence  its 
name,  Shotover. 

Dahlia  .  .  .  fuchsia  .  .  .  magnolia  .  .  .  camelia,  etc. 
In  no  plant  name  is  there  as  much  history  as  in  Cinchona 
or  Chinchona,  also  called  Jesuit  bark,  or  Peruvian  bark. 
A  Jesuit  missionary  in  Peru  learned  in  l638  from  a  native 
of  the  qualities  of  this  bark  in  time  to  save  the  life  of  the 
Countess  of  Chinchon,  wife  of  the  viceroy  of  Peru. 

110  Volta  .  .  .  voltaic.  The  electrical  unit  called  the 
volt  also  perpetuates  Volta's  name,  and  in  the  same  way 
the  ohm  and  the  henry,  also  electrical  units,  are  named, 
respectively,  for  a  German  and  an  American  physicist. 

Martinet.  As  this  general  seems  to  have  been  rather  a 
notable  organizer  and  tactician,  rather  than  a  stern  dis- 
ciplinarian, and  as  the  word  is  not  used  in  the  same  sense 
in  French  as  in  English,  this  derivation  of  the  common  noun 
can  not  be  reckoned  firmly  established.  Moreover  the  resem- 
blance of  martinet  to  the  proper  name  Martin,  a  derivative 
of  Mars,  the  name  of  the  Latin  god  of  war,  is  so  striking 
as  scarcely  to  be  a  coincidence;  and  if  the  ending  "-et  "  is 
taken  as  a  diminutive  of  contempt  perhaps  martinet  means 
etymologically  something  like  '  poor  little  war  divinity,' 
*  one  who  thinks  himself  the  very  personification  of  martial 
principles.'  General  Martinet's  very  historical  existence,  it 
may  be  said  in  passing,  seems  to  hang  on  a  few  vague  lines 
in  Voltaire's  Louis  XIV. 

111  Reynard  is   identical  with  German  Reinhard  and 

288 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

seems  to  signify  '  strong  in  counsel,'  *  crafty.'  The  reverse 
process  from  the  French,  where  the  fox  has  come  to  be 
called  by  a  personal  name  suggesting  craft,  is  seen  in  the 
English  colloquial  figure  by  which  a  sly  or  crafty  person 
is  called  '  a  fox.' 

America.  The  very  general  misconception  as  to  America's 
being  named  by  *  an  error  '  has  been  clearly  and  charmingly 
put  to  rights  by  John  Fiske  in  the  second  volume  of  *  The 
Discovery  of  America.'  Briefly,  he  shows  that  Columbus's 
"  discoveries  "  were  esteemed  in  his  own  day  parts  of  the 
coast  of  Asia;  that  Amerigo  Vespucci's  exploration  of  the 
coast  of  South  America,  especially  Brazil,  in  the  autumn  of 
1501  and  the  winter  of  1502,  showed  that  the  land  "dis- 
covered" by  him  was  not  Asia;  but  that  it  was  still  sup- 
posed that  the  country  to  the  north  was  Asia;  that  this 
unknown  southern  land  (Terra  Incognita)  explored  by  Ves- 
pucci was  therefore  actually  reckoned  a  discovery,  whereas 
the  land  first  reached  by  Columbus  was  identified  with  Asia, 
Japan,  etc. ;  and  that  the  name  America  was  originally  pro- 
posed, half -j  ocularly  perhaps,  for  the  equatorial  region  of 
Brazil,  whence  very  gradually  it  spread  first  to  South 
America  and  not  until  long  afterwards  (probably  first  in 
1541)  to  North  America,  too.  But  this  outline  is  inadequate 
and  the  reader  is  referred  to  Fiske's  chapter  vii,  "  Mundus 
Novus." 

'  Turkeys  '....'  dinde/  "  The  name  of  this  fowl 
preserves  a  curious  illustration,"  says  Fiske,  "  of  the  mix- 
ture of  truth  and  error  which  had  led  to  the  discovery  of 
America.  When  it  was  first  introduced  into  European  barn- 
yards in  1530,  people  named  it  on  the  theory  that  it  was  an 
Asiatic  fowl.  The  Germans  for  a  while  called  it  Cale- 
cutische  Hahn  or  Calcutta  cock;  the  French  still  call  it 
dinde,  which  at  first  was  poulet  d'Inde  or  India  fowl;  but 
the  Oriental  country  which  it  came  from  was  really  Mexico, 

289 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

many  thousand  miles  east  of  Asia."  In  fine,  the  bird  was 
named  on  the  assumption  that  it  came  from  Asia  because 
Mexico  was  still  identified  with  India  and  Asia. 

112  Oak  .  .  .  Druids.  The  connection  seems  all  the 
more  likely  because  of  the  Welsh  word  derrv,  oak;  but  this 
is  mere  coincidence  and  the  true  etymology  of  Druid  is 
doubtless  from  a  Celtic  word  for  magician,  drui,  genitive 
druad. — Milton  in  his  '  History  of  England  '  says  "  Druides 
from  the  Greek  name  of  an  Oke." 

113  Calamity.  The  Latin  grammarians  Donatus  and 
Servius  thus  explain  the  word,  which  modern  etymologers 
suggest  may  be  connected  with  the  Latin  adjective  incolu- 
mis,  safe,  unharmed,  the  root  meaning  then  being  harm. 
The  trick  of  popular  etymologizing  (Volhsetymologie)  is 
very  productive  in  the  change  of  forms  so  that  it  often 
results  in  deforming  a  word  past  recognition.  Calamitas 
in  Latin,  if  it  be  connected  with  the  root  syllable  of 
incolumis,  probably  underwent  vowel  changes  because  of 
the  popular  etymology  which  connected  it  with  calamus. 
The  process  of  such  change  on  a  small  and  individual  scale 
is  amusingly  illustrated  by  Farrar  in  his  Origin  of  Lan- 
guage: because  of  "the  dislike  of  terms  with  which  they 
are  unacquainted "  he  says,  "  sailors  corrupt  Bellerophon 
into  Billy  Ruffian;  and  ...  a  groom,  .  .  .  having  the 
charge  of  two  horses  called  Othello  and  Desdemona,  christ- 
ened them  respectively  Old  Fellow  and  Thursday  Morning. 
Lamprocles,  the  name  of  a  horse  of  Lord  Eglintoun's  was 
converted  by  the  ring  into  Lamb  and  Pickles."  A  little 
boy  christened  Eugen  by  his  German  parents  had  the 
German  pronunciation  of  his  name  converted  into  Ikey 
by  his  American  play-fellows  and  was  registered  as  Isaac 
on  the  school-roll  of  his  first  teacher  in  American  public 
schools. 

114  Lumber  .  .  ,  *  lombard '-room.     For  a  more  likely 

290 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

etymology  connecting  lumber  with   the   verb   '  to  lumber  ' 
and  possibly  with  '  lump/  see  the  Century  Dictionary. 

Library  .  .  .  bark.  So  too  the  word  book  has  been  re- 
ferred to  the  Anglo-Saxon  boc,  beech,  supposing  that  the 
early  German  runes  were  written  on  tablets  of  wood  (on 
ash,  says  Venantius  Fortunatus),  but  the  explanation  is  very 
dubious.  Bible,  meaning  merely  book  in  Greek  (and  in 
early  English,  as  Trench  himself  remarks)  is  the  same  word 
as  Pv/3\os  (byblos),  the  Greek  name  for  papyrus. 

115  No  argument  of  the  slightest  worth  from  so  remote 
an  etymology.  The  general  principle  is  an  excellent  one. 
But  Trench  himself  failed  to  follow  it  in  his  argument  that 
"  pain  is  punishment,"  as  has  been  noted  above,  and  in  his 
ethical   explanation  of  the  meaning  of  "  plague." 

116  'Urchin/  *  gramary.*  "Not  of  Teutonic  origin," 
says  A.  L.  Mayhew,  ..."  urchin  means  properly  '  a 
hedgehog,'  being  the  old  French  erigon  (in  modern  French 
herisson),  a  derivative  from  the  Latin  ericius,  '  a  hedgehog  '; 
gramary  is  simply  Old  French  gramaire,  '  grammar  '  =  Lat. 
grammatica  (ars),  just  as  Old  French  mire,  '  a  medical 
man  =  Lat.  medicum.*  '* 

118  *  First  day,*  'second  day.*  Walt  Whitman  regu- 
larly used  these  names,  and  as  well  *  first  month,'  etc. ;  not 
because  of  the  Quaker  colony,  Hicksville,  named  after  Elias 
Hicks,  near  his  boyhood  home,  but  because  he  objected  to 
any  save  distinctly  American  names,  in  short  he  disliked 
the  commonly  accepted  names  for  the  days  and  months  be- 
cause they  were  un-American, — not,  like  the  Quakers, 
because  they  were  un-Christian.  For  others  of  Whitman's 
notions  on  the  use  of  words  see  the  article  by  him  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  for  April,  1904. 

119  A  word  of  honourable  use.  The  word  is  translated 
*  by  interpretation  '  in  the  English  version  and  occurs  Jolm 
1 :  38,  42  (39,  43  in  the  Greek)  and  9:7. 

291 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

121  Queen  .  .  .  quean.  The  two  words  differ  in  their 
origin  and  were  distinct  in  both  Anglo-Saxon  and  Gothic; 
the  latter  has  no  relationship  to  yvvrj. 

122  English  poet.  The  reading  of  the  text  is  a  literary 
curiosity.  The  author  of  the  lines  quoted  is  John  Keats, 
who  died  in  1821,  nearly  a  century  and  a  quarter  after  the 
death  of  Dryden.  The  faulty  allusion  does  not  occur  in 
the  earlier  editions,  and  in  the  1903  edition  the  editor,  A.  L. 
Mayhew,  has  changed  the  text  so  as  to  read  "the  'Marcellus 
of  our  tongue  '  (to  use  the  words  of  Dryden  on  Mr.  Old- 
ham)." It  does  not  appear  whether  this  error,  corrected 
by  Mr.  Mayhew,  occurs  in  any  editions  earlier*than  Trench's 
death  and  antecedent  to  Mayhew's  editorial  care. 

128  A  suitable  garment  in  Latin.  Dr.  Westcott,  Bishop 
of  Durham  and  one  of  the  New  Testament  revisers,  with 
a  fine  sense  for  the  fundamental  difference  in  character 
between  Greek  and  Latin,  held  that  many  of  the  schisms 
and  doctrinal  difficulties  of  the  early  Church  arose  from  this 
very  translation  into  Latin,  which  was  so  much  less  meta- 
physical and  more  matter  of  fact  and  inelastic  than  the 
Greek ;  any  Latin  version  of  the  Greek  '  theotokos,'  God- 
bearing,  mother  of  God,  as  applied  to  Mary  so  materialized 
the  notion  as  to  suggest  immediate  doubt  or  disbelief. 

143  Roue.  Both  the  explanation  of  the  text  and  that 
given  in  the  author's  note  seem  fanciful.  By  a  natural  fig- 
ure roue,  either  with  or  without  de  fatigue,  meant  worn, 
weary,  jaded. 

147  Bentley  with  his  vigorous  insight.  The  strange 
misconception  of  the  nature  of  the  English  language  as 
quoted  in  the  text  naturally  suggests  Bentley's  dismal  fail- 
ure in  his  edition  of  Paradise  Lost,  which  he  attempted  to 
improve  by  conjectures,  working  on  the  fantastic  basis  that 
the  poem  had  been  carelessly  written  by  an  ignorant  aman- 
uensis and  then  deformed  by  an  editor.  The  result  is  all 
the  more  absurd  as  coming  from  one  of  the  greatest  classical 

292 


NOTES   ON    THE   TEXT 

scholars  that  ever  lived.  Bentley's  own  use  of  English  was 
vigorous  and  masterly,  with  no  trace  of  pedantry.  Consult 
Jebb's  life  of  Bentley,  the  chapter  "  English  Style — Edi- 
tion of  '  Paradise  Lost.'  " 

153  '  Lollard/  or  '  Loller/  The  first  form  undoubtedly 
comes  from  '  lollen/  and  so  means  a  hymn-singer ;  the  sec- 
ond is  due  to  a  popular  etymology  twisting  the  word  to 
mean  loafer  or  idler. 

154  '  Waldenses.'  The  name  is  almost  certainly  derived 
from  Waldus,  Waldo,  or,  as  he  was  probably  called  origi- 
nally, Peter  Valdez. 

Paulicians.  An  eleventh  century  opponent  of  the  sect, 
hence  none  too  creditable  a  witness,  derived  the  name  from 
Paul  of  Samosata,  a  lieretic  of  the  third  century,  for  whom 
his  orthodox  enemies  could  find  no  names  hard  enough. 
The  doctrines  of  the  Paulicians  seem  to  have  a  slight  tinge 
of  adoptionism,  and  we  know  that  Paul  of  Samosata  was  an 
adoptionist,  that  is  believed  that  Christ's  sonship  was  only 
due  to  his  adoption.  The  more  prevalent  view  is  that  they 
were  so  called  "  from  their  high  regard  for  the  apostle 
Paul." 

Paterines.  Paterini,  or  Patarini  is  said  to  be  from 
Pataria,  the  ragmen's  quarter  in  Milan,  where  the  sect  held 
meetings. 

Prester  John.  The  best  summary  of  the  legends  about  him 
is  given  by  Colonel  Yule  in  his  article  "  Prester  John  "  in 
the  ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

Ember  days  .  .  .  Collects  .  .  .  Breviary  .  .  .  Whit- 
sunday ,  .  .  Mass.  Satisfactory  derivations  of  each  of 
these  words  may  be  found  in  the  Century  Dictionary.  The 
same  is  true  of  chapel  and  ciboriumj  see  the  same  work  for 
sangraal,  under  the  heading  grail. 

155  Mosaic.  The  derivation  from  Latin  mosaicus  or 
musaicus,  artistic,  belonging  to  the  Muses,  is  commonly  ac- 
cepted now. 

293 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

156  Canada  is  presumed  to  be  from  an  Iroquoian  word 
Kanada,  meaning  cabin;  but  this  explanation  does  not  ex- 
plain. 

Hottentot.  The  word  is  probably  mimetic  of  the  native 
speech  with  its  dull  guttural  '  clicks/ 

156  California  seems  to  have  its  name  from  a  fabled 
island  in  a  Spanish  romance  of  about  1520. 

157  Arbitrary  rvords.  Neckar  is  said  to  have  proposed 
the  word  "  sepal^"  which  looks,  however,  like  a  combination 
of  separ,  the  root  of  "  separate/'  with  the  ending  in  the  word 
"  petal." 

Hidalso  does  not  mean  *  son  of  some  one  '  nor  '  son  of 

o 

wealth/    another   popular   explanation,  but   was    originally 
filiiis  Italicus,  a  son  of  Italy,  an  adopted  Roman  citizen. 

A  point  of  contact  always  existing.  This  decision  in 
favour  of  nature  rather  than  arbitrary  arrangement  as  the 
manner  in  which  names  were  given  seems  contradictory  with 
the  material  explanation  given  by  Trench  in  the  first  lec- 
ture of  Genesis  2:  19^  20,  in  accordance  with  which  the 
naming  w^as  by  "  arbitrary  arrangement."  Quite  apart 
from  any  Scriptural  narratives,  it  is  worth  remark  that  the 
argument  against  natural  naming  seems  the  stronger.  See, 
for  instance,  Professor  Whitney  in  the  early  part  of  his 
article  on  Philology  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  or 
the  same  author's  Language  and  the  Study  of  Language. 

158  Apocryphal.  The  first  explanation,  identical  with 
Augustine's  derivation  as  given  in  the  author's  note,  seems 
indubitably  correct. 

159  Pennalism  .  .  .  penna.  The  fagging  or  hazing  was 
called  pennalism,  because  pennal,  literally  "  pen-case,"  was 
a  slang  name  among  the  students  for  the  more  industrious 
'  fresh  '  students. — So  Mayhew  explains  the  word. 

160  The  author  of  "  The  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive 
Sciences."— Wmiam  WheweW  (1794-1866). 

l62       Lecture    6.     The   best   hand-books    on    Synonyms 
294 


NOTES    ON   THE    TEXT 

are  the  old  Dictionary  of  English  Synonyms  by  George 
Crabbe,  first  published  in  1816  and  frequently  revised; 
Roget's  Thesaurus,  which  appeared  in  1852  and  in  many 
enlarged  editions;  and,  the  best  modern  work,  Fernald's 
Synonyms  and  Antonyms. 

l65  Repentance  .  .  .  pcenitentia  .  .  .  resipiscentia. 
The  Greek  word  /x^erdvoia  means  '  after-thought/  '  change 
of  mind,  or  of  purpose/  and  so  has  a  more  active  and  forci- 
ble meaning  than  pcenitentia  in  Latin,  except  as  this  word 
has  been  theologically  drawn  to  the  same  meaning  as  the 
Greek  word;  originally  pcenitentia,  cognate  to  "pain," 
"  punishment,"  etc.,  has  merely  the  idea  of  regret  in  it. 
The  lacking  element,  it  was  claimed,  was  supplied  in  resi- 
piscentia, a  rough  equivalent,  in  the  meaning  of  its  compo- 
nent parts,  to  the  Greek  word ;  but  according  to  Latin  usage, 
following  the  verb  resipisco,  the  noun  resipiscentia  would 
mean  no  more  than  *  coming  to  one's  senses  again.'  Ety- 
mologically  '  repentance '  has  none  of  the  drawbacks  of 
either  of  these  words,  since  the  prefix  re-  often  implies 
*  duly,'  '  as  is  right,'  so  that  to  the  mere  sorrow  implied  in 
pcenitentia  and  '  penitence  '  is  superadded  the  notion  of  the 
due  results,  a  change  of  purpose,  a  reformation.  But  in 
spite  of  this  a  certain  theological  set  still  urges  the  inade- 
quacy of  any  English  word  to  translate  /nerdvoLa  as  it  is 
used  in  the  New  Testament. 

172  Onus  has  nov/  found  a  place,  even  if  it  had  not  when 
Trench  wrote;  the  Century  Dictionary  quotes  it  from  Char- 
lotte Bronte's  Jane  Eyre,  which  was  written  in  1847,  sev- 
eral years  before  The  Study  of  Words.  But  the  Latin 
phrase  onus  probandi  is  so  common,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
decide  whether  in  any  given  instance  the  word  is  natural- 
ized English  or  borrowed  Latin. 

175  'Interference '  .  .  .  'interposition.'  In  saying 
that  "  the  Latin  verbs  which  form  the  latter  halves  "  of 
these  two  words  are  "  about  as  strong  one  as  the  other," 

295 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

Trench  must  have  derived  *  interfere  '  from  Latin  ferre,  for 
the  correct  original  ferire,  to  strike,  is  plainly  more  forcible 
than  ponere,  to  place  or  put. 

177  Authentic  .  .  .  genuine.  The  distinction,  as  here 
stated  and  as  previously  made  by  Richard  Watson,  bishop 
of  Llandaff  (1737-1816),  like  many  others  resulting  from 
the  rather  arbitrary  and  artificial  process  of  '  desynonymi- 
zation,'  may  hold  when  the  two  words  are  used  together; 
but  when  used  separately  the  distinction  is  rarely  (and  not 
necessaril}^)   observed. 

185  Education  must  educe,  etc.  This  may  be  an  excel- 
lent piece  of  pedagogy,  but  as  etymology  it  is  incorrect,  for 
educare,  although  a  frequentative  of  educere,  to  lead  out, 
does  not  mean  in  Latin  to  draw  out  or  unfold  the  powers 
of  the  child,  but  to  train,  bring  up,  rear, — lead  out  of  child- 
hood, perhaps.  In  short,  if  the  verb  has  in  it  a  notion  of 
*  leading  out '  or  '  drawing  out,'  the  idea  is  that  the  person 
to  be  educated  is  to  be  brought  out  of  something  and  not 
that  something  is  to  be  brought  out  of  him.  The  Latin  syn- 
tactician  would  prove  this  by  showing  that  the  Latin  verb 
takes  a  direct  object  in  the  accusative  case  of  the  person 
educated,  showing  that  the  relation  is  that  of  the  root  notion 
of  the  verb  and  the  person;  not  a  dative,  indirect  object,  as 
would  be  the  case  if  the  object  depended  not  on  the  verb 
but  on  the  preposition  compounded  with  it,  which  of  course 
would  be  the  construction  if  the  verb  meant  to  draw  informa- 
tion out  of  the  pupil. 

195  Sirens  ..."  sereyns.'  Chaucer,  *  Romaunt  of  the 
Rose,'  lines  681-685: 

That,  for  her  [their]   singing  is  so  clere. 
Though  we  mermaj^dens  clepe  hem  [them]  here 
In  English,  as  in  our  usaunce. 
Men  clepe  hem  sereyns  in  Fraunce. 
^9Q 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

That  is^  Chaucer's  explanation  of  the  use  of  the  word  is, 
not  that  they  are  fairweather  creatures  to  be  seen  only  in 
a  calm,  but  "  for  their  singing  is  so  clear."  Probably 
Trench  quoted  from  memory.  His  editor,  Mr.  A.  L.  May- 
hew,  has  added  a  note  in  which  he  (quite  inexplicably)  says: 
'  No  etymology  is  given  or  implied.' 

197  Fixed  and  recognized  laws  of  equivalence  and  per- 
mutation. The  fixity  and  absolute  invariability  of  phonetic 
laws,  that  is  of  generalizations  based  on  phonetic  phenom- 
ena, is  essentially  a  tenet  of  the  '  new  '  school  of  etymolo- 
gers, founded  in  Germany  by  Brugmann,  OsthofF,  and 
Streitberg  in  the  late  '80's.  Its  result  is  that  any  modern 
scholar  approaching  Trench's  task  would  have  written  on 
the  study  of  sounds,  not  words. 

197  '  Holos'  (oAos)  ....  'whole'  The  Greek  word 
KttXos  ('  kalos  '),  beautiful,  good,  hale,  is  possibly  cognate 
with  the  English  word. 

198  '  The  earliest  spelling.*  The  earliest  usage  is  equally 
important,  especially  as  middle  English  spellings  are  often 
fancifully  malformed  by  popular  etymology.  For  lists  of 
early  uses  the  student  will  find  the  New  English  Dictionary 
invaluable;  its  etymologies  too  make  it  a  safe  guide. 

199  Phonetic  spelling  would  not  in  every  instance  conceal 
the  etymological  origin  of  a  word,  inasmuch  as  many  'cor- 
rect' English  spellings,  as  has  just  been  remarked  in  the 
preceding  note,  being  the  outgrowth  of  incorrect  explana- 
tions, serve  to  misguide  the  student.  Such  spellings  based 
on  folk-etymologies  are  particularly  common  in  French; 
and  one  is  wrongly  cited  by  Trench  (in  note  206,  at  the 
end),  for  '  poic?s  '  is  a  false  spelling,  due  to  an  attempt  to 
make  the  word  look  like  Latin  '  ponc?us,'  whereas  its  true 
derivation  is  from  '  pensum.' 

200  Pronunciation  is  itself  continually  changing.  No  bet- 
ter evidence  of  this  can  be  desired  than  what  we  rudely  and 

297 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 

incorrectly  call  the  '  false  '  rhymes  of  the  1 8th  century 
poets^  most  of  which  are  cases  where  pronunciation  has 
changed  one  (or  both)  of  the  rhyming  words  so  that  they 
no  longer  coincide.  An  illuminating  exercise  would  be  to 
take  Pope's  version  of  the  Iliad,  list  the  "false"  rhymes,  and 
then  run  down  the  contemporary  pronunciation  in  each  case 
in  some  such  book  as  A.  J.  Ellis  or  A.  M.  Bell  on  English 
pronunciation.  An  even  better  argument  against  phonetic 
spelling  than  the  variation  in  pronunciation  at  different 
times  is  the  variation  in  different  mouths  and  in  different 
ears:  Bell  and  Ellis  not  only  pronounce  simple  English 
sounds  differently,  but  hear  them  differently,  as  may  be 
instructively  seen  from  Ellis's  article  on  "Speech  Sounds" 
in  the  ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica. 
Strangely  enough  this  same  argument  has  been  used  in  fa- 
vour of  phonetic  spelling,  the  notion  being  that  a  man's 
written  word  would  then  exactly  produce  his  peculiarities  of 
pronunciation,  and  every  written  letter  would  be  phono- 
graphic in  its  reproduction  of  the  individual.  A  sane  and 
witty  treatment  of  the  subject  is  the  essay  called  '  The 
Progress  of  "Fonetik  Refawrm"  '  in  Harry  Thurston  Peck's 
What  is  Good  English?  and  Other  Essays. 

211  Indolence.  The  etymological  meaning  occurs  in  med- 
ical parlance  where  a  painless  wound  or  tumour  is  still  styled 
indolent.  Technically  Trench  is  incorrect  in  saying  that 
in  doleo  means  *  not  to  grieve  ' ;  for  in — the  Latin  negative 
prefix  is  never  used  in  composition  with  a  verb  to  give  it  a 
negative  force;  the  apparent  exceptions  are  due  to  the  deri- 
vation of  verbs  from  negative  adjectives  or  substantives,  the 
prefix  occurring  in  the  noun. 

214  '  By  '  .  .  .  village.  In  the  word  *  by-law,'  by  has 
this  meaning,  the  by-law  being  a  municipal  rule,  and  not  as 
popular  explanation  makes  it  a  secondary  law  as  if  the 
word  *  by  '  in  this  compound  were  the  same  as  that  in  *  by- 

298 


NOTES   ON   THE   TEXT 

product.'  On  the  early  meaning  of  '  by/  *  shire/  '  county/ 
'  town/  etc.,  consult  the  first  chapters  of  John  Fiske,  Civil 
Government  in  the  United  States. 

219  Redeem  .  .  .  '  buying  bach.'  The  word  is  used 
in  this  sense  in  other  than  a  theological  meaning  in  the  King 
James  Version  of  the  Bible;  so  in  Ephesians  5  :  Q,  and  Colos- 
sians  4:5  the  phrase  'redeem  the  time.'  Perhaps  'buy 
up  '  or  *  ransom  '  is  rather  nearer  the  meaning  than  '  buy 
back/  '  re-  '  having  other  meanings  than  '  back/  notably 
'  duly.' 

222  Home  Tooke.  John  Home  (17S6-1812),  a  bold 
liberal  politician  of  the  period  of  the  American  war,  which 
he  opposed.  In  1782  he  assumed  the  name  of  Tooke  from 
a  patron  and  friend,  Mr.  William  Tooke,  whose  place  at 
Purley  in  Surrej^  was  immortalized  by  figuring  in  the  title 
of  Home  Tooke's  Epea  Pteroenta  [winged  words],  or  Di- 
versions of  Purley.  This  book,  written  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue,  is  very  ingenious,  very  learned,  especially  in  Teu- 
tonic dialects,  and  to  a  certain  degree  valuable  as  correct- 
ing the  faults  of  his  predecessors ;  but  it  is  full  of  positive 
blunders,  of  the  rashest  guesses  at  etymologies,  and  espe- 
cially of  complete  confusion  of  the  parts  of  speech.  Philo- 
sophically the  book  is  nominalistic,  as  in  its  famous  conten- 
tion that  truth  is  merely  relative  and  has  only  a  subjective 
meaning,  because  of  the  (incorrect)  etymology  of  '  truth ' 
from  '  trow,'  to  think.  But  the  Archbishop,  strangely 
enough,  since  his  own  philosophy  is  the  other  extreme  neither 
attacks  the  book  nor  warns  his  readers  against  it.  Home 
Tooke  is  frequently  alluded  to  as  the  Philosopher  of  Wimble- 
don, because  his  last  years  were  spent  in  Wimbledon, 
Surrey. 

22s  Guesses  at  Truths  the  joint  production  of  Julius 
Charles  Hare,  Trench's  tutor  at  Cambridge,  and  his  brother, 
Augustus  William  Hare. 

299 


READING    LIST 

The  Making  of  English  (1904).     Henry  Bradley. 

The   History   of    the    English    Language    (1894).     O.    F. 

Emerson. 
Words  and  their  Ways  in  English  Speech  (1901).     Green- 

ough  and  Kittredge. 
English   Etymology    (1898).      Kluge   and   Lutz. 
History  of  the  English  Language   (1894).     T.   R.  Louns- 

bury. 
Standard    of    Pronunciation    in    English    (1904).     T.    R. 

Lounsbury. 
Words— Their  Use  and  Abuse  (1876).     William  Matthew. 
Lectures     on    the     Science    of     Language     (1891).     Max 

Muller. 
The    Sources    of    Standard    English    (1873).     T.    L.    K. 

Oliphant. 
Old  and  Middle  English  (1893).     T.  L.  K.  Oliphant. 
New  English  (1886).     T.  L.  K.  Oliphant. 
Folk  Etymology  (1882).     Palmer. 
What  is  Good  English   (1899).     H.  T.   Peck. 
Introduction  to  the  Science  of  Language   (1900).     Sayce. 
Principles  of  English  Etymology  (1887-91).     Skeat. 
Etymological  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language  (1898). 

Skeat. 
Translation    of    Paul's    Principien    der    Sprachgeschichte 

(1888).      Strong. 
Outlines  of  the  History  of  the  English  Language  (1900). 

Toller. 
Dictionary  of  English  Etymology  (1872).     Wedgwood. 
Words  and  their  Uses  in  Every-Day  English  (1870).     R.  G. 

White. 
Language     and     Study     of     Language     (1875).     W.     D. 

Whitney. 

300 


INDEX 


Aaron's  rod,  40 

abbacinare,  52 

abdicate,  185 

abhor,  177 

aborigines,  112 

Abram,  Abraham,  30 

absolution,  219 

academy,  108 

acerbity,  172 

Acheron,  233 

Adanson,  232 

adieu,  75 

admiration  and  igno- 
rance, 5 

admire,  wonder,  170 

adventurer,  53 

affront,  209 

agate,  106 

agnomen,  187 

al(Txpos,  75 

aiutare,  69 

Ajax,  228 

aKpMTTipid^eiv,  52,  227 

alchemy, alcohol,  alem- 
bic, algebra,  alkali, 
almanack,  88 

Albert,  33 

Albion,  38 

Alcoran,  251 

alderman,  120 

Alemanni,  124 

alhgator,  142 

almighty,  172 

alms,  152 

amarus,  196 

ambition,  208 

America,  111,  124 


amethyst,  117 

ammonia,  ammonite, 
109 

analogy,  257 

analyse,  201 

ananas,  141 

anchorite,  88 

ancient  etymologies 
absurd,  194 

angel,  57 

angel's  eyes,  40 

anger,  172 

animosity,  55 

annual,  172 

'AuOrjvai,  45 

Antioch,  126 

antistrophic,  139 

"apathy,"  Latin  trans- 
lations of,  132 

apis,  195 

aplomb,  80 

apocalypse,  172 

apocryphal,  158 

apprehend,  182 

aqueous,  172 

Arabic  in  English,  88 

arbitrary  words,  157 

archimandrite,  88 

aretinism,  109 

argument  from  ety- 
mology, 114 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  227 

Arian  controversy,  20 

Aristophanes 's  comic 
compounds,  145 

arithmetic,  172 

arras,  105 

301 


arrogant,  176 
arsenic,  117 
artesian,  Artois,  105 
artful,  54 

article    compounded 
with  noun,  142,  251 
artifice,  168 

&pT05,  115 

ascendancy,  116 

ascetic,  88 

Asia,  124 

Asia  Minor,  124 

asinissimo,  146 

assassin,  94 

assentation,  assenta- 
tor,  61 

assiduous,  211 

assimilation,  134 

astrological  beliefs,  116 

astrology,  astronomy, 
174 

atavism,  138 

Athanasius,  228 

Athem,  167 

Athenae,  45 

atlas,  108 

atonement,  187,  219 

atre,  167 

Atrius  Umber,  28 

attentive,  211 

auditor,  173 

augury,  auspices,  119 

Augustine,  243,  260 

Australian  native  vo- 
cabulary, 18 

authentic,  177 


avTOTaros, 


146 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 


avarice,  188 
avenge,  171 
avunculize,  146 
axiom,  116 
azimuth,  88 

Bacon     quoted,     149, 

201,  237,  255 
bacon,  87 
badinage,  80 
Bafomet,  229 
baldachin,     Baldacco, 

105 
ballads,  Spanish,  34 
Balzac,  24 
bantam,  107 
barb, 106 
barbarous,  92 
barn,  87,  118 
barnacle,  117 
Barrow  quoted,  179 
basilisk,  42 

Baxter  quoted,  27,  190 
bayonet,  Bayonne,  105 
beatitas,   beatitudo, 

137 
beef,  87 
Beguines,  154 
beldam,  53 
benefice,  92,  187 
Beneventum,  29 
Bentley   quoted,    147, 

163 
bergamot,  107 
bewitch,  119 
bezant,  106 
Bible,  217 
biggen,  106 
Bilbao,  bilbo,  105 
bishop,  152 
bitterness,  172 
blackbird,  118 
blackleg,  71,  73 
blague,  blagueur,  148 
blanch,  172 
bloody,  172 
bloody  warrior,  40 


blue-bell,  40 

Boanerges,  30 

board,  86 

Bohemian,  112 

Boiardo,  23 

Bonaparte,  25 

bonhomie,  66 

boor,  53,  87 

borne,  80 

bottee,  mission,  143 

boycott,  110, 145 

boyish,  172 

Brazilian  native  vo- 
cabularies, 17 

brethren  of  the  coast, 
70 

Breviary,  154 

Britain,  124 

British  water,  71 

brougham,  110 

Brugmann,  241 

Bruin,  111 

brunt,  203 

Buddhism,  20 

burdensome,  172 

biu-ke,  110,  145 

Burton  cited,  156 

— by,  in  place  names, 
214 

cadaver,  155 
Csesar,  262 
cagot,  153 
calamitas,  113 
calculation,  114 
calf,  87 

calico,  Calicut,  106 
California,  156 
calling,  220 
cambric,  105 
camelia,  109 
camelopard,  41 
Canada,  156 
canary,  107 
candidate,  208 
candle,  117 
cannibal,  156 

302 


canonical,  123 
caprice,  37 
Capuchin,  103 
carbunculus,  43 
cardinal,  cardo,  94 
Careless  cited,  28 
carp,  55 
carronade,  105 
cassimere,  105 
castle,  86 
catchpole,  78 
Catholic,  101, 104,  123 
Cavaliers,  102 
cavalloni,  34 
celadon,  244 
celandine,  40 
cenobite,  88 
cerf  volant,  42 
chaire,  chaise,  167 
chalcedony,  106 
chancellor,  86 
changeling,  116 
chapel,  155 
charity,  172 
charm,  119 
Chaucerisms,  109 
Chaucer's  etymologies, 

40, 195 
cheat,  cheater,  79 
XeXtSJvioi',  41 
chevalier    d'industrie, 

71 
chic,  80 
chicane,  80 
chimerical,  107 
Chouans,  156 
Christian,  123,  124 
Christology,  151 
chronic,  172 
church,  90 
churl,  87 
ciborium,  154 
Cicero  as  word-coiner, 

136    sqq.,  149,  186, 

235 
cicerone,  78,  108 
circle,  140 


INDEX 


Clara,  2S0 
clarify,  glorify,  170 
classical,  classics,  100, 

208 
clerk,  92 
Clesel,  229 
club,  79 
cockatrice,  99 
Cocytus,  233 
cognomen,  187 
Coleridge     cited,     36, 

138,  170,  257 
collect,  154 
Columba,  230 
comic    compound 

words,  145 
common  sense,  92 
companion,  210 
compassion,  172 
comprehend,  182 
compulsion,  184 
Comte,  21 
conceal,  172 
conceit,  54 
conciliatrix,  71 
concomitance,  123 
confidens,  241 
congratulate,  180 
contrary,  opposite,  183 
convertisseur,  143 
convey,  70 

convince,  convict,  170 
copper,  105 
Copperhead,  72 
cordovan,     cordwain, 

106 
Cornwall,  213 
Coronatus,  230 
cosmopolite,  131 
cosmos,  124 
cossu,  80 

costard-monger,  118 
coterie,  80 

count,  county,  86,  215 
covetousness,  188 
cow,  87 
craft,  168 


crafty,  54 
crank,  69 
cravat,  Croat,  105 
crawler,  73 
crocodile,  46 
crown  imperial,  40 
Crusades,  94 
crypt,  196 
crystal,  98 
cuckoo-flower,  40 
cunning,  54 
curfew,  113 
Curia  Romana,  76 
currant,  107 
Curtius,  227 
cynarctomacby,  146 
cypher,  88 
Cyprian,  229 

dabones,  146 
dactyle,  46,  172 
dsedale,  107 
daffodil,  152 
daft,  54 
dahlia,  109 
daisy,  40 
D'Alembert,  262 
dalmatic,  106 
damask,  105 
damhele,  121 
damson,  107 
SavacaraTOS,  146 
Danish   place   names, 

214 
dapper,  54 
daric,  Darius,  108 
Darmesteter,  152 
Darwin,  21 
days  of  the  week,  118 
deadly,  mortal,  170 
decimate,  117 
dedal,  dsedale,  107 
deer,  87 
deist,  172 
delator,  143 
delf,  106 
demerit,  merit,  170 


demoiselle,  120 

demonetize,  133 

demure,  54 

denigreur,  61 

DeQuincey,  256 

derailler,  derayer,  262 

derrick,  109 

desert,  184 

despair,  174 

despecificate,  257 

desultory,  37 

desynonymizing,  169 

deterioration  of  mean- 
ing, 54,  55 

detest,  177 

detraction,  188 

Devil's  snuff-box, 
darning-needle, 
coach-horse,  43 

diaphanous,  172 

dictator,  159 

diflSdence,  174 

digit,  172 

dilapidated,  9 

diligence,  211 

dinde,  112 

Diogenes,  132 

Dirne,  235 

disastrous,  116 

discernment,  186 

discover,  181 

discretion,  186 

D'Israeli,  284 

dissimilation,  134 

distemper,  115 

dittany,  106,  152 

diversion,  10 

Diversions  of  Purley, 
_222 

divines,  230 

Dobrizhoffer  cited,  17 

Doderlein,  250 

doily,  110 

dolomite,  110 

dome,  86 

Dominican,  27 

dominissimus,  146 


303 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 


donat,  donet,  108 
donzelle,  121 
SdofjTjfxa,  236 
Dormitantius,  25 
dosones,  146 
dragonnade,  143 
Drepanura,  38 
droll,  116 
dropsy,  152 
dmid,  5pvs,  112 
Dryden    quoted,   122, 

137 
dufJel,  105 
duke,  86 

dunce.  Duns,  95,  109 
duplicity,  65 
dwarf,  116 
Dwight,  250,  254 
Dyrrachium,  29 

earl,  86,216 

eau  de  vie,  71 

ecstasy    (ecstacy),    10, 

179 
education,  184 
effeminate,     feminine, 

170 
egarement,  80 
Egesta,  29 
ei\iKpiP'f)S,  9 
flpwvda,  256 
elan,  80 
electrum,  168 
eleemosvna,  152 
elend,  48 
elixir,  88 
Ember,  154 
Emerson  quoted,  7 
emulation,  188 
enchant,  119 
enfranchisement,  11 
England,  124,  213 
ennui,  73 
enthusiasm,  257 
entity,  96 
envy,  88 
eTTixai/xKoiKia,  235 


epicure,  108 

Epidamnus,  29 

Epiphanes,  228 

episcopal,  152 

equivocation,  96 

Erdapfel,  141 

Erigena,  154 

escheat,  78 

escobarder,  244 

esemplastic,  138 

espieglerie,  80 

essay,  149 

Essenes,  154 

essentia,  251 

Essex,  213 

essil,  48 

Esther,  33 

ethics  in  etymology,  9, 
10 

etom-derie,  80 

etymological  signifi- 
cance in  poetry,  179 

etymology  not  dull,  6 

etymology  as  educative 
factor,  192 

evSaiixovla,  236 

ev-fiOeia,  66 

€v\oyia,  name  of  small- 
pox, 29 

Eumenides,  29 

euphemy,  69 

Europe,  124 

Euxine,  29 

evangel,  57 

eversio,  164 

exaltation  of  words' 
meanings,  57,  58 

exonerate,  172 

expend,  expense,  114 

extradition,  133 

extraforaneous,  146 

extremes,  116 

eye-bright,  40 

facinus,  241 
faded    metaphors     in 
words,  34 

304 


faience,  106 

Fall,  proof  of,  in  lan- 
guage, 50 

false  prophets,  31,  58 

family  names  descrip- 
tive, 24 

famine,  170 

fanaticism,  257 

fancy,  170,  201 

fascinate,  119 

favor,  149 

feather,  plume,  172 

fee,  114 

feeling,  172 

felicitate,  180 

Felix,  25 

feminin^s,  170, 172 

fiacre,  245 

fief,  feudal,  155,  187 

fiery,  172 

Fifth-Monarchy,  104 

Fiji  vocabulary,  18, 
226 

fire-water,  71 

flamboyant,  47 

flaneur,  148 

Florence,  233 

Florida,  39 

flowers,  poetical  names 
of,  40 

folk-etymology,  poetry 
in,  43,  44 

"fool's  counters,"  31 

forerunner,  172 

foresight,  172 

forget-me-not,  40 

formica,  195 

fortunate,  67 

fossil  poetry,  7,  32 

fourmiller,  37 

foyer,  167 

fowl,  87 

franchise,  11 

Frank,  frank,  11,  93, 
124 

freedom,  172 

Freethinkers,  104 


INDEX 


French  words  without 
equivalents,  80 

Friends,  104 

frieze,  105 

fripponerie,  80 

fuchsia,  109 

Fuller,  puns  on  name, 
28 

fustian,  105 

Galileans,  126 

galloway,  106 

galvanism,  110 

gamboge,  106 

gamin,  148 

ganch,  52 

garble,  55 

gas,  255 

Gaunt,  24 

gauze,  105 

Gemuth,  81 

gene,  73 

Genesis  on  birth  of 
language,  13,  14 

gentian,  108 

gentil,  80 

genuine,  177 

Gerber,  227,  231,  240 

German,  Germanv, 
124, 155 

German  words  with- 
out equivalents  in 
English,  etc.,  81 

ghost,  spirit,  170 

Gibbon,  225,  242 

gigmanity,  146 

gilt-cup,  40 

gipsy,  112 

girl,  196 

Glaubers,  108 

glorify,  clarify,  170 

glycyrize,  157 

Gnostic,  102,  104 

Gobehn,  110 

God,  good,  113 

"Godly,"  72 

Godsacre,  47 


golden  knob,  42 
golden  mean,  116 
golden  rain,  41 
Golden  Spears,  39 
goldfinch,  42 
good-by,  75 
.  Good  Hope,  29 
good  people,  29 
goose,  197 
gordian,  108 
yopyid^eiv,  245 
Gospels,  123 
Gothic,  100 
goulard,  110 
goupil.  111 
gramary,  116 
Great  Britain,  124 
Greeks,  124 
Greek  Church,  104 
grief,  172 
Grimm,  231,  242,  254, 

260 
Guesses  at  Truth,  223 
Gueux,  103 
guile,  168 
guillotine,  110, 144 
guinea,  106 
Gulf  of  Lyons,  112 

habit,  116 
hablar,  habler,  81 
Habsburg,  212 
haft,  203 
hag,  116 
halcyon,  43 
handbook,  172 
hands,  67 
hansom,  110 
happiness,  happy,  67 
harrow,  87 
hate,  177 
haversack,  118 
head-money,  70 
hearer,  173 
hearth,  86 
hearts-ease,  40 
heathen,  91 

305 


hector,  111 

Heimweh,  81 

Helen,  26,  228 

Helmont,  255 

herb-of -grace,  40 

Herculean,  107 

heresy,  188 

hermeneutics,  hermet- 
ic, 107, 119 

hermit,  88 

e|ts,  236 

Heyse,  250,  264 

hidalgo,  157 

hide,  172 

Hildebrand,  26 

Himalaya,  38 

hind,  81 

hippocras,  108 

Hobbes,  31,  184 

'6\os,  197 

homage,  86 

home,  86 

homicide,  172 

homoiousion,  homo- 
ousion,  20 

homonyms,  206 

honnetete,  73 

Hooker  quoted,  190 

Horace,  259 

Hoshea,  Joshua,  30 

Hottentot,  156 

house,  86 

Huguenot,  153 

humanitas,  63 

Humboldt,  239,  248 

humility,  57 

humour,  humours,  115 

hundred,  216 

hunger,  170 

vTroKopiC^adai,  238 

hurricane,  113 

Hus,  228 

hypothesis,  172 

lapetus,  113 

idiot,  iSKoT-nsy  74,  251 

idolatry,  128 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 


igneous,  172 

Iliads  without  a  Ho- 
mer, 34 

illegible,  172 

ill-starred,  116 

imagination,  169 

imperator,  91 

impotens,  impotent,  62 

incivisme,  144 

incog,  145 

Independents,  104 

India,  124 

indigentia,  137 

indigo,  106 

Indo-European,  99 

Indo-European  vocab- 
ulary, 88,  89 

indolence,  indolentia, 
211 

ineptus,  240 

ine\atable,  172 

infanticidium,  130 

Infelix,  25 

influence,  influenza, 
116 

ingenue,  80 

ingenuous,  ingenious, 
186 

inimical,  172 

inneity  of  language,  14 

Innigkeit,  81 

innocent,  66 

insolent,  176 

instruction,  184 

insult,  209 

integrity,  60 

interference,  interposi- 
tion, 175 

invent,  discover,  181 

invidia,  invidentia, 
137 

ire,  172 

Irenaeus,  27 

irregular,  176 

isothermal,  138 

Israel,  Jacob,  30 

Italy,  124 


Jacob,  Israel,  30 

Jacob's  ladder,  40 

Jaherr,  61 

jalap,  106 

jane,  105 

Japheth,  113 

Jean  Paul,  231 

Jehovah, 112 

Jerome  quoted,  164 

Jesus,  meaning  o  f 
name,  30 

jet,  106 

Johnson  a  poor  ety- 
mologer, 194 

John  the  Baptist,  30 

Jonson  quoted,  28, 138 

Joshua,  30 

journal,  117 

journey,  117 

Jove,  113 

jo\aal,  116 

Jutland,  112 

Ka\6s,  75 
Karfunkel,  43 
Kartoffel,  ]34,  141 
Keats  quoted,  122 
Kemble,  265 
Kerseymere,  105 
Ketzer,  153 
kickshaws,  kickshose, 

152 
kind,  64 
king,  86 
king-cup,  40 
kingdom,    reign,    170, 

172 
kingfisher,  42 
kingly,  172 
knave,  Knabe,  53 
knobstick,  73 
Krapf  cited,  17 
Kvpiandv,  90 

labarum,  154 
laburnum,  41 
lady-bird,  lady-cow,  42 

306 


lady's  fingers,  lady's 
smock,  etc.,  40 

lambiner,  244 

landau,  106 

language,  theories  of 
its  origin,  12  sqq. 

lanterner,  144 

larder,  118 

larkspur,  40 

Latin  and  Saxon 
doublets,  171 

Latin  Church,  104 

Latin  poets  as  etymol- 
ogists, 234 

Latitudinarians,  104 

latro,  241 

lazar,  lazaretto,  108 

leei,  54 

legend,  95 

Leibnitz,  263 

leichtsinnig,  235 

leman,  53 

lendemain,  251 

Lent  lily,  40 

leonine  verses,  158 

leopard,  99 

lesson,  217 

Levellers,  104 

lewd,  55 

haison,  80 

hbertine,  61 

hberty,  freedom,  172 

library,  114 

licorice,  156 

Lightfoot,  163 

ligneous,  1 72 

lierre,  251 

lilliputian,  111 

limbo,  123 

limner,  illuminer,  113 

lingot,  251 

Littre,  224,  246,  254 

loathe,  177 

Lobau,  26 

Locke,  262 

Logos,  166 

Lollard,  Loller,  153 


INDEX 


Longfellow  en  Gods- 
acre,  48 

long  pig,  70 

loose-strife,  40 

loss  of  precise  etymo- 
logical meaning,  117 

love,  charity,  172 

love-child,  70 

love-in-idleness,  love 
lies  bleeding,  40 

lucubration,  118 

lumber,  114 

lunacy,  119 

lunes,  172 

luscinia,  lusciniola,  44 

Lutheran,  102 

Lyons,  Gulf  of,  112 

macadamize,  110 

macassar,  106 

Macedonia,  124 

macintosh,  110 

Maculist,  72 

Madagascar,  124 

Madeira,  39 

magazine,  88 

magnesia,  105 

magnet,  105 

magnolia,  109 

Mahn,  254 

Mahomet,  229 

maiden-blush,  maiden- 
hair, 40 

majolica,  106 

majority,  name  for 
dead,  29 

maker,  48 

Malaparte,  25 

Maleketh,  186 

Maleventum,  29 

malice,  74,  80 

Malignant,  72 

malin,  74 

Malmsey,  106 

Manes,  Manichseus, 
229 

manly,  172 


Mansarde,  245 
manual,  172 
Marah,  24 
marechal,  120 
Margaret,  33 
Marivaudage,  245 
Marlowe  quoted,  26 
Marsh,  256 
marshal,  120 
martinet,  110 
martjT,  57 
mass,  154 
materials  named  from 

places,  105 
matriarch,  146 
maudUn,  54 
mausoleum,  108 
maumet,  97 
Max  Muller,  263 
megrim,  152 
/neWoviKidco,  145 
Menage,  262 
menial,  53 
mentor.  111 
Mephistopheles,  254 
mercurial,  116 
mere-grot,  44 
merit,  demerit,  170 
Merkani,  156 
Merry  Dancers,  43 
mesmerize,  110 
metaphor,  257 
Methodist,  102,  178 
Metrophanes,  229 
Metternich,  229 
Michaelis,  243 
michers,  70 
Middlesex,  213 
Mill,  227,  242,  251 
Milton,  179,  238,  258 
miniature,  118 
minimissimus,  146 
minion,  53 

minions  of  the  moon, 70 
miscreant,  94 
miser,    miserable,    59, 

236 

307 


mithridate,  108 
mob,  144 
Moffat  cited,  16 
Moliere  quoted,  33 
mollify,  172 
Momiers,  103 
Monachus,  monk,  123 
monastery,  monk,  88 
monody,  118 
Mons  Pileatus,  45 
Montaigne,    38,    224, 

252, 260 
Montesquieu,  261 
moons,  172 
morality  of  words,  9, 

10,  50  sqq. 
morbidezza,  77 
Morca,  38 
mores.  177 
morganatic,  155 
Morimo,  16 
mors,  196 
mortal,  deadly,  170 
mosaic,  155 
mouth,  55 
Mouton,  26 
much,  mucho,  197 
mulierositas,  137 
Mummer,  103 
mundane,  172 
murder,  172 
muslin,  Mossul,  106 
mutton,  87,  170 
mystery,  58,  119 

Nabal,  24 
nadir,  88 

names  really  descrip- 
tive, 25 
Naomi,  24 
Naples,  118 
Napoleon  quoted,  26 
Natal,  40 
Natolie,  251 
naturalist,  178 
natural  selection,  21 
nausea,  118 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 


nave,  172 
nay,  no,  258 
Nazarenes,  126 
Neapolitan  metaphors, 

34 
needy,  needful,  170 
negus,  109 
neologist,  138 
Nestorian  controversy, 

20 
neutralization,  133 
New  Forest,  118 
newt,  251 
new    words    for    new 

thoughts,  19,  127 
New  Testament,  123 
nicotine,  110 
Niebuhr  quoted,  194 
night-mare,  116 
Nirvana,  21 
Nisard,  252 
no,  nay,  258 
Noah's  Ark,  43 
nomen,  187 
nonna,  nun,  123 
Norman    elements    in 

English,  84 
Normans,  124 
North,  244,  251 
vSffrifios,  48 
novelist,  178 
noyade,  144 
numeration,  172 
nun,  123 
nydiot,  251 

oaf,  116 
objective,  96 
obligation,  oblige,  64, 

184 
obsequium,  149 
occisissimus,  146 
octogamy,  146 
oculissimus,  146 
Odem,  167 
officious,  54 
Old  Nick,  116 


omens  in  names,  29 
omnipotent,  172 
onerous,  172 
opposite,  183 
orgies,  54 
origin     of     language, 

12  sqq. 
orrery,  109 
orthodox,  104 
ottimissimo,  146 
Ottoman,  108 
Our    Lady's    mantle. 

Our  Lady's  slipper, 

40 
ox,  87 
Ozanam,  241 

Padishah,  186 
pagan,  90 
pain,  58 
palace,  86,  118 
palm  oil,  70 
palsy,  152 
pander,  111 
panic,  107,  119 
pantaloons,  109 
panther,  195 
papable,  139 
paper,  114 
Paradise,  57 
paraffin,  156 
paralysis,  152 
paramour,  53 
parchment,  106 
parlar,  parler,  81 
party  nicknames,  102 
parvenu,  80 
pasquinade,  109 
passion,  62 
pastime,  9 
pastor,  171 
patata,  141 
patch,  109 
Paterine,  154 
Patres  Conscripti,  155 
patruissimus,  146 
raulician,  154 

308 


Paul's  Hsts  of  virtues 
and  \ices,  51 

pavaner,  37 

pavo,  195 

Peace,  75 

peach,  107 

pecore,  34 

pecunia,  114 

pedagogical  value  of 
words,  31 

pedant,  53 

Peile,  250 

pelegrino,  77 

pcnnalism,  159 

Pentheus,  228 

peony,  107 

perfide,  74 

persiflage,  80 

pert,  55 

pessimissimus,  146 

Peter,  Simon,  30 

petrel,  42 

petroleuse,  144 

Pfaffe,  79 

phantasy,  fancy,  201 

pheasant,  107 

Philadelphus,  26 

phihppic,  108 

philofelist,  146 

(piXScTTopyos,  80 

Philpot,  name  punned 
on,  28 

Phlegethon,  233 

Phoebe,  120 

phonetic  spelling,  199, 
200 

physician,  134 

Piagnoni,  72 

Piers  Plowman  quo- 
ted, 91 

Pilatus,  Pileatus,  45 

pineapple,  142 

plague,  59 

plantation,  179 

plausible,  55 

plough,  87 

plume,  172 


INDEX 


poena,  59 

pa?nitentia,  165 

poesy,  poetry,  257 

poet,  48,  132,  135 

poetic  folk-etymolo- 
gies, 43,  44 

policeman,  78 

pompifex,  229 

Poncel,  239 

Tfov-qpia,  itSvos,  60 

pope,  121 

pork,  87 

positive  philosophy, 
21 

post,  204 

potato,  141 

pot  de  vin,  71 

Pott,  255,  256 

potus,  237 

poudre  de  succession, 
69 

prsenomen,  187 

pransus,  237 

precursor,  172 

predicament,  116 

prejudice,  prejudicial, 
56 

Premier,  103 

Prester  John,  154 

presumptuous,  176 

prevenant,  80 

priestly,  172 

primed,  69 

Prime  Minister,  103 

prince,  86 

Prometheus,  26 

pronuba,  241 

propitiation,  187 

proser,  53 

protean,  107 

province,  155 

prude,  65 

prudence,  172 

Prussians,  124 

publicans,  78 

puck,  116 

puerile,  172 


pullet,  87 

puns  on  names,  26-28 
Puritan,  102,  104 
purveyors,  70 
Pythagoras,  150,  248 

Quaker,  102 

Quaker  nomenclature, 
118 

quarantine,  117 

quassia,  109 

quean,  queen,  121 

queen  -  of  -  the  -  mead- 
ows, 40 

quelques  choses,  kick- 
shaws, 152 

quince,  107 

quinsy,  152 

quintessence,  117 

Quintilian,  250,  253, 
260 

Quirites,  155 

quixotic.  111 

rake,  87 

rape,  216 

rapture,  10 

rationalist,  150 

ratten,  145 

ravishment,  10 

razzia,  144 

real,  96 

realm,  86, 172 

reason,  understanding, 
257 

reason  and  word,  13 

recidivist,  144 

reconciliation,  187 

Redeemer,    redemp- 
tion, 219 

Reformation,  21 

refugee,  143 

regal,  172 

regeneration,  58 

reign,  kingdom,  170, 
172 

309 


reine-marguerite,  40 
Rejoice,  75 
relaxation,  211 
relent,  210 
religion,  10 
remaining,    name    for 

slain,  29 
removal,  69 
Renaissance,  101 
Renan,  225,  248,  249, 

255 
repentance,  165 
reprehend,  210 
resent,  resentment,  55 
resipiscentia,  165 
retaliation,  55 
retract,  56 
revelation,  172,  218 
revenge,  171 
Revival   of   Learning, 

100 
Reynard,  111 
rhubarb,  106 
rickets,  152 
ringleader,  53 
rise  and  fall  of  words, 

120 
rivals,  210 
rococo,  148 
rodomontade.  111 
Rodomonte,  24,  111 
romance,  92 
romantic,  100 
Rome,  124 
roof,  86 

roquelaure,  109 
rose-marguerite,  40 
rosemary,  40 
rose-window,  47 
rossignol,  44 
roue,  143 

Roundhead,  102,  153 
royal,  172 
royalty,  86 
rubric,  117 
ruse,  80 
Rutilius,  246 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 


sacerdotal,  172 

sacrament,  92 

sselig,  66 

Saint  E\Temond,  261 

St.  Nicholas'  clerks,  70 

Salic,  155 

salubrious,  172 

salutificator,  salvator, 
129 

Sahius,  28 

Samaritan,  94 

Sanderson  quoted,  60 

Sangraal,  155 

sanguine,  172 

sans-culotte,  144 

Sarai,  Sarah,  30 

sarcasm,  210 

sarcenet,  105 

sarcophagus,  117 

sardanapalisme,  244 

sardonic,  117 

Satanasius,  228 

saturnine,  116 

Satm-nus,  155 

savage,  201 

savage  vocabulary  de- 
graded, 16 

sa\aoiu",  129 

Saxon  elements  in  Eng- 
lish, 84 

Sayce,  241 

sbirri,  78 

scab,  73 

sceptre,  86 

Schadenfreude,  225 

Schalk,  235 

scliism,  188 

Schlecht,  236 

Schleicher,  231 

Scipio  Africanus  quo- 
ted, 28 

scoganisms,  109 

scripture,  217 

scythe,  87 

secularization,  133 

Secundus,  28 

Sedakat,  66 


Seekers,  104 
Segesta,  29 
Sehnsucht,  81 
self-sufficient,  76 
Semitic,  99 
Seneca,  251 
Senlac,  Sanglac,  45 
sentiment,  172 
sermo,  165 
servator,  129 
severitas,  155 
shaddock,  109 
shady, 172 
Shakespeare,    pun   on 

name,  28 
Shakespeare     quoted, 

24,  70,  71 
shalloon,  106 
sham,  145 
share,  87,  203 
sharper,  71 
sheaf,  87 
shear,  203 
Shechem,  229 
Shedd,  227 
sheep,  87,  170 
sheepish,  66 
shepherd,  171 
sherd,  203 
sherry,  106 
ship,  172 
shire,  203,  215 
short  pig,  70 
sickle,  87 
sierra,  9 
sign,  114 
silhouette,  244 
silk,  105 
silly,  66 

Simon  Peter,  30 
simony,  108 
simple,  65 
Siren,  195 
Sittsamkeit,  81 
slander,  188 
slave,  12 
sniveller,  72 

310 


snow-flake,  40 
soften,  172 
solar,  172 
solecism,  107 
soliloquium,  149 
Solomon's  seal,  40 
adijjtaTa,  236 
sophist,  92 
Sorbonne,  230 
sorrow,  172 
sospitator,  129 
South  quoted,  60,  64, 

68 
sovereign,  86 
spade,  87 
spaniel,  106 
Spanish  ballad  poetry, 

34 
specious,  54 
spelling,  earliest,  guide 

to  derivation,  198 
spelling,  phonetic,  199, 

200 
Spencer,  109 
spindle-side,  46 
spirit,  ghost,  170 
spirituel,  74 
squatter,  121 
squirrel,  42 
stag-beetle,  42 
stake,  206 

star  of  Bethlehem,  40 
starry,  172 
steer,  87 
stellar,  172 
stelho,  42,  46 
stellionatus,  46 
stentorian,  111 
Stephen,  27,  33 
sterhng,  106 
Sterry,  27 
stipulation,  113 
stirrups,  118 
stock,  205 
-stoke,  in  place  names, 

214 
stratagem,  168 


INDEX 


Stubbs,  254,  265 

Styx,  233 

subjective,  96 

subscribe,  114 

subtle,  210 

succinum,  168 

succour,  209 

sundew,  40 

sunny,  172 

supercilious,  210 

superstition,  159 

superstition,  traces  of, 
in  words,  119 

supposition,  172 

surgeon,  152 

siu'name,  218 

surplice,  118 

sur\ival  of  fittest,  21 

Susanna,  33 

Sussex,  213 

Sweet,  264 

sweet     Alison,     sweet 
William,  etc.,  40 

Swift's    etymologies, 
195 

swindler,  53 

swine,  87 

sword-side,  46 

Sychar,  229 

sycophant,  159 

synonjTns,  162 

synonyms    discrimi- 
nated, 173 

tabinet,  110 
table,  86 
Tacitus,  248 
talent,  63 
tansy,  152 
tantalize,  107 
tapfer,  54 
Taprobane,  38 
tarantula,  107 
tariff,  88 
tartuffe.  111 
Tasmanian  native  vo- 
cabulary, 18 


tawdry,  54 

temper,  115 

temporal,  172 

terrorisme,  144 

tertulia,  108 

Teuffel,  27 

Teutonic  mythology, 
116 

theist,  172 

theocracy,  128 

theotokos,  20 

-thorpe,  suffix,  214 

thrasonical.  111 

throne,  86 

Thucydides,  238 

Tiberius  Claudius 
Nero,  228 

Tiefsinn,  81 

tight,  69 

tilbury,  106 

time-server,  53 

timid,  172 

tinsel,  54 

tobacco,  106 

Tolosa,  229 

tolpatchery,  146 

tontine,  110 

Tooke,  152,  222 

tooth,  197 

topaz,  43 

Tormentoso,  29 

tort,  203 

Tory,  102 

Tott,  27 

tournure,  80 

tracasserie,  80 

tragedy,  158 

translations,  inade- 
quacy of,  164 

transhteration,  134 

transport,  10 

transubstantiation,  21, 
123 

Traveller's  joy,  40 

treasurer,  86 

tribulation,  35 

Trinacria,  38 

311 


Trinity,  123 
triticum,  232 
trivial,  trivium,  210 
Turbanus,  229 
turkey.  111 

turquoise,  Turkey,  106 
Tylor,  227 
Tyndale  quoted,  96 
tyrant,  tyranny,  124 

Uberti,    Faglio    degli, 

233 
ultio,  171 
umbrageous,  172 
understanding,  257 
understatement,  69 
unfriendly,  172 
Unitarian,  101 
unload,  172 
unreadable,  172 
unshunnable,  172 
"urang-utang"  theory 

of  language,  13 
urbanus,  149 
Urbanus,  229 
urchin,  116 
usignuolo,  44 

Valerius,  28 

valet,  53 

Vane,  27 

varied  53 

vaticide,  146 

veal,  87 

vengeance,  170 

venison,  87 

Venus'    looking-glass, 

40 
verb,  208 
verbum,  165 
Verhangniss,  81 
verite,  74 
vernicle,  108 
Verres,  228 
versio,  164 
verve,  80 
Vespasian,  110 


THE     STUDY     OF     WORDS 


Vigilantius,  25 

villain,  53,  87 

Vincentius,  230 

vindicta,  171 

Virgil,  233 

Virgin's  bower,  40 

virile,  172 

virtual,  96 

virtue,  64 

virtuoso,  76 

virtus,  77 

\itiositas,  137 

vixerunt,  29 

vocabulary  limits  de- 
velopment, 16 

vocabulary,  too  scant, 
188 

vocalitas,  250 

vocation,  220 

volcanic,  107 

voltaic,  110 

voluble,  54 

volume,  114 

voluntary,  wilful,  170 


wain,  87 

Walafrid  Strabo,  242 

Waldenses,  154,  229 

watery,  172 

wearying  in  wicked- 
ness, 60 

Wechselkind,  116 

Weltschmerz,  81 

wench,  54 

Whewell  cited,  20 

Whig,  102 

whiten,  172 

Whitsunday,  154 

whole,  197 

wholesome,  172 

Wiclif,  229 

wight,  116 

wilful,  voluntary,  170 

windfanner,  w  i  n  d  - 
hover,  43 

winds  of  the  soml, 
49 

Wither's  poem  on  trib- 
ulation, 35 


womanly,  172 
wonder,  admire,  170 
word  and  reason,  13 
words'     influence     on 

opinion,  98 
Wordsworth,     169, 

257 
worldly,  172 
worsted,  105 
-worth,     -worthy,     in 

place  names,  214 
wrong,  203 


Yankee,  156 
yea,  yes,  258 
yearly,  172 
ypocras,  108 


zenith,  88 
zero,  88 
Zigeuner,  155 
Zucht.  81 


312 


Explanation  of  The  Unit  Books 

WHAT  ARE  THE  UNIT  BOOKS?  By  The  Unit 
Books  we  mean  a  monthly  issue  of  the  permanent  books 
of  all  literatures  presented  to  American  readers  in  the  best 
obtainable  English  versions. 

The  serial  is  a  collection  of  famous  books  —  fiction,  histor- 
ical works,  masterpieces  of  scientific  knowledge,  records  of 
daring  travel,  books  of  power,  books  of  mere  information, 
technical  manuals  and  the  classics  of  ancient  and  modern 
times. 

The  aim  of  the  publisher  is  to  place  the  chief  works  of 
literature,  science  and  the  practical  arts  within  the  reach 
of  every  person. 

The  series  is  to  include  accurate  texts  of  the  worthiest 
books  published  at  the  lowest  possible  prices  in  a  thorough, 
systematic  manner.  It  is  intended  as  an  encyclopedic  issue 
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SIS 


and  recent  continental  writings  as  have  survived,  and  now 
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314 


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315 


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316 


WITH  WHAT  BOOKS  DOES  THE  UNIT  SERIES 
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ADD    8    CTS.    PER  VOLUME    FOR   POSTAGE 

1  The  Marble  Faun    Nathaniel  Hawthorne     1  Sept.  1903 

21   units  (524  pages)         cloth       72  cts. 
paper  42  cts.  leather  92  cts. 

2  Letters  and  Addresses    Abraham  Lincoln    1  Oct.     1903 

16  units  (399  pages)         cloth      62  cts. 
paper  32  cts.  leather  82  cts. 

3  Tales  of  Mystery  Edgar  Allan  Poe        1    Nov.   1903 

21   units  (507  pages)         cloth       72  cts. 
paper  42  cts.  leather  92  cts. 

4  Life  of  Jesus  Ernest  Renan  1    Dec.   1903 

19  units  cloth      68  cts. 

paper   38  cts.  leather  88  cts, 

5  Prue  and  I  George  William  Curtis         1   Jan.   1904 

8  units  (176  pages)         cloth      46  cts. 
paper   l6  cts.  leather  66  cts. 

6  Domestic  Manners  of  the  Americans  Mrs.  Trollope 

1  Feb.    1904 

17  units  (402  pages)         cloth      64  cts. 
paper  34  cts.  leather  84  cts. 

317 


7  Study  of  Words         Archbishop  Trench     1    Mch.   1904 

13  units  (320  pages)         cloth      56  cts. 
paper  26  cts.  leather  76  cts. 

8  National    Documents    (collection    of    state 

papers)      1  April  1904 
21   units  (504  pages)         cloth      72  cts. 
paper  42  cts.  leather  92  cts. 

9  Intellectual  Life  P.  G.  Hamerton  1    May     1904 

10  Nonsense  Books  Edward  Lear  1    June   1904 

11  The  Journals  of  Lewis  and  Clark  1  July    1904 

12  De  Quincey's  Essays  1  Aug.    1904 

13  Familiar  Letters  of  James  Howell  1  Sept.  1904 

14  Life  of  Benvenuto   Cellini  1  Oct.     1904 

15  Pater's  Marius  the  Epicurean  1  Nov.   1904 

16  Boker's  Francesca  da  Rimini  (with  a  com- 

parative study  of  other  versions)      1  Dec.    1904 

17  Rejected  Addresses  and  other  prose  paro- 

dies and  burlesques      1  Jan.    1905 

18  Goethe's    Faust  1  Feb.    1905 

19  The  Old  Red  Sandstone  Hugh  Miller   1    Mch.   1905 

20  Pride  and  Prejudice  Jane  Austen  1   April  1905 

21  Hertzka's  Trip  to  Freeland  1  May    1905 

22  Horace   in   Latin   and   English  1  June   1905 

23  Swinburne's   Poems  1  July    1905 

24  The  Philippines  in  the  17th  Century  1  Aug.   1905 

25  The  Yemassee  W.  G.  Simms  1    Sept.  1905 

26  Knickerbocker's  New  York  Irving  1   Oct.    1905 

27  Democracy  in  America  De  Tocqueville   1    Nov.  1905 

28  Unit  Book  of  Facts  1  Dec.    1905 

29  Poems  of  Walt  Whitman  1  Jan.    1906 

30  Autobiography  and  Poor  Richard's 

Almanac  by  Franklin      1    Feb.    1906 

Vanity  Fair       Thackeray 
Arthur   Mervyn  Charles   Brockden   Brown 

Law  for  Every  Day 

The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac         Parkman 
318 


The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  Holmes 

Geoffrey  Hamlyn  Henry  Kingsley 

Doctor  Thorne         Anthony  Trollope 
Eothen  Kinglake 

The  Conquest  of  Mexico  Prescott 

A  First  Book  on  Electricity 
A  Sentimental  Journey  Sterne 

On  the  Origin  of  Species  Darwin 

The  Buccaneers  of  America         Lieut.  Burney 
The  Poems  of  Robert  Browning 
Pickwick  Papers         Dickens 
Margaret         Sylvester  Judd 
Tales         Gaboriau 

Two  Years  Before  the  Mast         Dana 
A  Pronouncing  Dictionary 
A  Tale  of  Two  Cities         Dickens 
Monarchs  Retired  from  Business         John  Doran 
Chemical  History  of  a  Candle  Faraday 

Our  Village   (first  series)         Mary  Mitford 
Confessions  of  Rousseau 
Past  and  Present         Carlyle 
The  Last  Days  of  Pompeii         Lytton 
Noctes  Ambrosianae         John  Wilson 
Some  Fruits  of  Solitude         William  Penn 
The  Microscope  P.  H.  Gosse 

Last  of  the  Mohicans  Cooper 

The  Comedies  of  Sheridan 
Familiar  Colloquies  of  Erasmus 
The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic         Motley 
Voyage  of  a  Naturalist  Darwin 

Typee  Herman  Melville 

Natural  History  of  Selborne         Gilbert  White 
The  Three  Musketeers         Dumas 

Adventures  of  Mr.  Verdant  Green  Cuthbert  Bede 

Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea  Lieut.   Maury 

A  Cyclopedia  of  Literary  Allusions 
Discourses  on  Painting         Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
319 


A   Dictionary  of   Classical  Quotations 
A  Handbook  ol"   Proverbs 
Percy's  Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry 
Plutarcli's  Lives 
Dante's  Divine  Comedy 
Homer's  Odyssey 
Virgil   in  Latin  and  English 
The  Essays  of  Sainte-Beuve 
Hakluyt's  Principal  Navigations 
Ivanhoe  Scott 

Don  Quixote  Cervantes 

The  Plays  of  Shakesi)eare 
Fairy  Tales  The  Brothers  Grimm 

Notre  Dame  Victor  Hugo 

Paul  and  Virginia  Saint  Pierre 

Monks  of  Thelema  Besant  and  Rice 

The  Bible  in  Spain  George  Borrow 

Legends  of  the  Madonna  Mrs.  Jameson 

Essays  of  Elia  Charles  Lamb 

"The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth  Charles  Reade 

Adam  Bede  George  Eliot 

Aurora  Leigh  Mrs.   Browning 

On  Compromise  John   Morley 

Villette  Charlotte  Bronte 

Marjorie  Fleming  and  Rab  and  his  Friends  John 

Brown 
St.  Winifred's  F.  W.   Farrar 

Fable  of  the  Bees  Bernard  de  Mandeville 

The  Apocrypha 

Apologia  Pro  Vita  Sua  Newman 

Froissart's  Chronicles 

ADD    8    CTS.    PER   VOL.    FOR    POSTAGE 

Howard   Wilford  Bell 

publisher  of  The  Unit  Books 

259  Fifth  avenue  New  York 
1  March  1904 

320 


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